cz 


f 

THE 

BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN:     "l 


THE  ARGUMENT  FOR  THE  DIVINE  ORIGIN 


SACRED  SCRIPTURES, 


DRAWN  FROM  THE  SCRIPTURES  THEMSELVES. 


BY  GARDINER  SPRING,  D,D,, 

1'A.STOR  OF  THE  BRICK  CHURCH  IN  THE  CITY  OF  NEW-YORK. 


I  certify  you,  that  the  Gospel  which  -was  preached  of  me  is  not 
after  man. — PAUL 


PUBLISHED  BY  THE 

AMERICAN    TRACT   SOCIETY, 

1BO  NASSAU-STREET,   NEW-YORK. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1847,  by 
O.    R.    KINGSBURY, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  for  the  Southern  District  of  the  State  of 
New-York. 


CONTENTS, 


PRELIMINARY    DISSERTATION. 

THE  FITNESS  OF  THE  TIME  SELECTED  BY  DIVINE 
PROVIDENCE  FOR  THE  INTRODUCTION  OF  THE 
CHRISTIAN  DISPENSATION. 

PAGE. 

The  extreme  corruption  of  religion  and  manners  throughout 

the  pagan  world 10 

The  religious  and  moral  condition  of  the  Jewish  nation    .     .  15 

It  was  an  age  of  great  intellectual  vigor  and  refinement  .     .  18 

The  world  was  at  peace       24 

The  time  was  that  predicted  in  the  Jewish  Scriptures       .    .  28 
It  was  such  that  it  is  difficult  to  account  for  the  success  of 

the  Gospel  without  the  intervention  of  Almighty  power    .  35 

Allegations  of  Gibbon  refuted       38 

CHAPTER    I. 

THE  BIBLE   ABOVE   THE   INVENTION  OF  THE   HUMAN 

INTELLECT. 

The  views  which  the  Scriptures  give  of  the  Deity       ...  46 

The  views  presented  of  the  Divine  purposes 49 

The  Scripture  account  of  the  work  of  creation 51 

The  Scripture  account  of  the  works  of  Providence       ...  53 

The  view  the  Scriptures  present  of  the  redemption  of  man   .  56 

Everything  the  Bible  reveals,  forms  a  part  of  one  great  whole  61 

The  inexhaustible  fulness  of  the  Sacred  Writings  ....  64 
The  intellectual  character  of  the  writers  of  the  Bible,  and  of 

the  age  in  which  it  was  written 67 


2051927 


*  ?v 

4  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER   II. 

THE  SPIRIT  OF  THE   BIBLE  A  SUPERHUMAN  SPIRIT. 

PAGE. 

This  peculiar  spirit  appears  in  its  precepts  and  truths  .  .  73 
It  is  most  emphatically  expressed,  in  all  its  tenderness,  when 

and  where  it  is  most  needed 75 

The  spirit  of  those  institutions  which  the  Bible  establishes  .  78 
Its  spirit  of  kindness  flows  out  to  all  classes  of  the  human 

family  ...  ^  *-.,,. 80 

The  great  end  and  motive  of  the  Divine  conduct  which  it 

reveals  84 

The  spirit  of  the  Bible  as  expressed  in  its  own  wondrous 

method^of  redeeming  mercy 86 

CHAPTER   III. 

THE  MORAL  RECTITUDE  OF  THE  BIBLE. 

The  truth  and  justice  of  its  moral  distinctions 97 

It  furnishes  the  only  perfect  standard  of  moral  rectitude  .  .  100 
The  solicitude  it  expresses,  and  the  means  it  adopts  for  the 

promotion  of  moral  rectitude  among  men 105 

The  protection  of  moral  rectitude  in  the  dispensations  of 

pardoning  mercy 109 

CHAPTER   IV. 

THE  PECULIAR  DOCTRINES  OF  THE  BIBLE  GIVE  EVI- 
DENCE OF  ITS  DIVINE  ORIGIN. 

The  character  of  man 119 

The  moral  transformation  indispensable  to  salvation  .  .  .  120 
The  method  of  the  sinner's  pardon  and  acceptance  with  God  122 

The  distinctive  character  of  Christian  piety 122 

The  purpose  of  God  in  extending  his  grace  to  a  chosen 

people 123 

The  eternal  punishment  of  the  incorrigible  enemies  of  God     124 


CONTENTS.  5 

PACE. 

The  duty  of  believing  the  Gospel      . 124 

No  false  religion  has  such  frank  and  unreserved  honesty      .  12G 
No  false  religion  would  have  given  those  great  and  peculiar 

doctrines  such  prominence 129 

No  false  religion  would  have  disclosed  truths  so  obnoxious 

to  the  human  heart 133 

These  truths  would  have  been  fatal  to  the  success  of  Chris- 
tianity, if  it  had  not  been  from  God   .    » 137 


CHAPTER   V. 

THE  RELIGION  OF  THE  BIBLE  A  PROOF  OF  ITS  DIVINE 
ORIGIN. 

It  is  founded  in  knowledge       152 

It  is  the  religion  of  the  heart , 154 

Its  unearthly  tendency 161 

It  is  a  progressive  and  growing  religion 163 

The  religion  of  the  saints  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament  is 
represented  as  an  imperfect  religion 166 


CHAPTER    VI. 

THE  UNITY  OF  THE  SCRIPTURES. 

The  agreement  in  the  facts  narrated 172 

Unity  in  the  representations  of  religious  truth 178 

The  harmony  of  doctrine,  experience,  and  practice  ....  182 
The  harmony  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments 185 


CHAPTER   VII. 

ADAPTATION  OF  THE   SCRIPTURES  TO  THE   CHARAC- 
TER AND  WANTS  OF  MAN. 

Their  adaptation  to  man  as  an  individual 198 

Their  adaptation  to  man  in  his  social  relations 211 


6  CONTENTS. 

MM 

This  adaptation  is  as  extensive  as  it  is  minute 216 

This  revelation  is  adapted  to  all  periods  of  time      ....  220 
Illustration  from  the  South  Sea  Islanders   ....  .  227 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

THE  DIVINE  ORIGIN   OF  THE   SCRIPTURES  ATTESTED 
BY  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE. 

The  great  truths  of  the  Bible  fitted  to  exert  an  influence  on 

the  heart 233 

It  is  a  book  of  promises 237 

Its  instructions  on  the  subject  of  prayer 239 

It  gives  peace  and  consolation  in  death 242 

The  testimony  of  the  Christian's  experience  not  refuted  by 

the  negative  testimony  of  the  infidel       247 

The  Christian's  experience  founded  on  solid  reasons   .     .     .  248 
The  nature  of  the  evidence  from  experience  and  conscious- 
ness        251 

The  testimony  from  the  Christian's  experience  fortified  by 
unnumbered  witnesses      .  .  256 


CHAPTER   IX. 

THE  BIBLE  ACCORDANT  WITH  HUMAN  REASON. 

To  reason  justly,  men  must  have  the  opportunity  and  the 

means  of  reasoning 266 

May  not  the  Author  of  the  book  of  nature  and  of  providence 

give  a  more  full  revelation  of  his  will  ? 269 

Is  there  anything  unreasonable  in  the  revelation  itself?  .  .  270 
It  may  contain  truths  which  human  reason  would  not  have 

discovered 271 

And  truths  above  and  beyond  the  power  of  human  reason  to 

comprehend 273 

The  great  truths  and  principles  of  the  Bible  constitute  a 

reasonable  system 276 


CONTENTS.  7 

CHAPTER    X. 

CONCLUDING  OBSERVATIONS. 

The  nature  and  importance  of  the  argument  from  the  Bible 

itself 288 

Relations  of  the  argument  to  those  who  reject  its  Divine 

authority 296 

The  doctrine  of  the  church  of  Rome  respecting  the  authority 

of  the  Sacred  Writings 301 

The  province  of  reason  in  all  matters  of  religious  faith  .  .  304 

A  common  error  of  modern  Rationalists 306 

The  importance  of  established  religious  principles  .  .  .  .311 
The  Scriptures  deserve  the  most  serious  and  patient  study, 

and  affectionate  regard *    .    .    .  316 


PRELIMINARY  DISSERTATION. 


THE  FITNESS   OF   THE  TIME  SELECTED  BY  DIVINE   PROVIDENCE 
FOR  THE  INTRODUCTION  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  DISPENSATION. 

THE  time  was  long  between  the  promise  given 
to  our  first  parents  in  the  garden  of  Eden,  and  the 
actual  coming  of  the  promised  Saviour.  The  pa- 
triarchs were  looking  for  him,  but  his  advent  was 
delayed.  The  prophets  were  looking  for  him,  and 
"  inquired  and  searched  diligently  what,  or  what 
manner  of  time"  it  would  be  when  He  should  appear, 
of  whose  "  sufferings  they  testified  beforehand,  and 
the  glory  that  should  follow."  Holy  men  were 
watching  and  waiting ;  holy  women  too  were  look- 
ing out  in  anxious  expectation  for  that  highly  fa- 
vored one,  who  should  be  the  mother  of  Him  who 
was  the  "  Seed  of  the  woman,"  and  the  "  Son  of 
the  Highest." 

But  the  time  was  still  distant.  Four  thousand 
years  passed  slowly  away  before  this  long  cherished 
and  eager  expectation  was  fulfilled,  a^nd  He  who 
"  thought  it  no  robbery  to  be  equal  with  God  took 
upon  him  the  form  of  a  servant,"  and  men  beheld 
his  glory  "  as  the  only  begotten  of  the  Father,  full 
of  grace  and  truth."  So  long  indeed  was  the  pro- 

Bible  not  of  Man.  1* 


10  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

mise  delayed,  that  not  a  few  began  to  despair  of  its 
ever  being  fulfilled ;  nor  were  there  wanting  those 
who  questioned  the  divine  origin  of  the  predictions 
which  foretold  his  advent.  But  he  who  "  sees  not 
as  man  sees,"  unto  whom  "  a  thousand  years  are  as 
one  day,  and  one  day  is  as  a  thousand  years,"  had 
nevertheless  been  preparing  the  way  as  fast  as  his 
unerring  wisdom  saw  best.  Events  had  been  taking 
place  of  high  interest ;  revolution  had  been  succeed- 
ing revolution  in  the  earth  with  a  view  to  his  ap- 
pearing. "  When  the  fulness  of  time  was  come, 
God  sent  forth  his  Son."  It  was  in  every  respect 
the  fit  season.  It  was  not  too  soon,  nor  was  it  too 
late,  to  secure  the  objects  of  his  incarnation. 

The  period  selected  was,  in  many  particulars,  a 
remarkable  period ;  but  it  was  wonderfully  fitted  to 
confirm  the  truth  of  divine  revelation;  to  wake 
the  nations  from  their  long-continued  stupidity  and 
infatuation,  and  fix  their  attention  upon  the  design 
of  his  advent ;  as  well  as  to  show  the  power  of  God 
in  extending  his  Gospel  and  kingdom  through  the 
earth,  in  defiance  of  the  powers  of  darkness,  and  the 
stagnant  unbelief  of  men. 

\  In  adverting  to  some  of  the  characteristics  of  this 
period,  the  first  that  strikes  us  is,  the  extreme  cor- 
ruption of  religion  and  manners  throughout  the 
pagan  world.  We  have  no  means  of  ascertaining 
for  how  long  a  period  after  the  creation  men  retained 
the  knowledge  of  the  true  God.  Very  soon  after 
the  flood,  and  certainly  as  early  as  the  foundation 
of  the  Babylonian  empire,  they  became  idolaters. 


PRELIMINARY   ESSAY.  H 

From  that  period,  the  greater  part  of  mankind 
had  been  wandering  in  paths  which  resembled  an 
inextricable  labyrinth,  the  deadly  vapors  of  which 
extinguished  the  faint  light  that  conducted  their 
footsteps.  More  especially  from  the  time  in  which 
God  called  Abraham  out  from  Ur  of  the  Chaldees, 
do  the  Gentile  nations  seem  to  have  been  given 
over  to  a  reprobate  mind.  From  one  false  notion 
of  the  Deity  to  another  more  false,  and  from  one 
system  of  foolish  and  demoralizing  observances  to 
another,  they  rushed  into  idolatry  of  the  grossest 
form,  until  they  lost  sight  of  most  of  their  religious 
traditions  ;  and  "  because  they  did  not  like  to  retain 
God  in  their  knowledge,"  had  become  "  Atheists  in 
the  world."  Phoenicia,  Egypt,  and  Thrace,  trans- 
mitted their  absurd  mythology  to  Greece  and  Rome, 
and  amid  the  multiplicity  of  their  gods,  the  one  only 
living  and  true  God  had  no  place.  A  selected  and 
favored  few  there  were,  in  whose  bosoms  something 
like  the  miniature  resemblance  of  this  great  truth 
was  locked  up  as  an  inaccessible  secret ;  while  the 
multitude  thought  the  Godhead  "  like  unto  gold, 
and  silver,  and  stone,  graven  by  art  and  man's 
device." 

Heathen  sages  had  written  upon  the  nature  of 
virtue  and  the  obligations  to  practise  it,  while  their 
own  vices  showed  that  they  had  little  knowledge 
of  morals,  and  were  very  ineffectual  teachers  of  it 
to  others.  "  Across  the  night  of  paganism,  philoso- 
phy flitted  on,  like  the  lantern-fly  of  the  tropics,  a 
light  to  itself,  but  alas  t  no  more  than  an  ornament 


12  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

of  the  surrounding  darkness."  Thinking  minds  had 
proposed  to  themselves  questions  of  importance  to 
the  life  that  now  is,  and  still  more  important  to  that 
which  is  to  come,  without  being  able  to  give  to  any 
one  of  them  a  satisfactory  answer.  Everywhere 
they  saw  mysteries ;  and  withal,  so  dense  a  cloud 
hanging  over  the  vast  future,  that  the  farther  they 
pursued  their  inquiries  the  deeper  were  they  plunged 
in  painful  uncertainty.  Their  thoughts  of  another 
life  were  all  confused  and  obscure.  Much  was 
written  of  "  manes,  and  ghosts,  and  shades  of  de- 
parted men;"  their  poets  sang  of  streams  that  emp- 
tied into  the  infernal  regions,  of  "  Elysian  Fields," 
of  the  seats  of  the  blessed,  and  of  nectar  quaffed  by 
the  gods ;  but  they  were  fables  got  up  for  the  vulgar, 
and  in  which  the  very  inventors  of  them  had  no 
confidence.  With  all  her  fascinating  beauty  and 
tenderness,  poetry  herself  believed  not  what  she 
wrote ;  and  though  in  accordance  with  the  spirit  of 
the  age  she  publicly  rehearsed  the  absurdities  of  her 
mythology,  in  her  hours  of  loneliness  and  reflection 
she  scarcely  ventured  to  echo  the  strains  of  her  own 
lyre.  The  popular  and  civil  theology,  established 
by  the  laws,  "  worshipped  everything  as  god  except 
God  himself,"  and  gave  its  sanction  to  rites  in  which 
there  was  such  a  mingling  of  absurdity,  lascivious- 
ness,  and  cruelty,  that  they  may  not  be  recited. 
Conscience  was  not  so  obdurate  and  silent,  as  to  be 
prevented  from  uttering  her  admonitions ;  nor  yet  so 
benighted,  as  not  to  have  some  strong,  though  in- 
distinct apprehensions  of  a  terrible  recompense.  Nor 


PRELIMINARY  ESSAY.  13 

was  reason,  in  the  midst  of  all  her  degradation,  so 
absolutely  stupefied  and  brutalized,  as  not  some- 
times to  assert  her  own  greatness,  and  grasp  realities 
of  terrible  import.  And  the  more  they  did  this,  the 
more  they  both  stood  in  frightful  perplexity,  lest  the 
labyrinth  in  which  they  were  wandering  should 
border  on  the  verge  of  the  precipice.  The  state  of 
the  pagan  mind,  however  well  informed  on  other 
subjects,  on  the  subject  of  religion  and  morals  was 
to  the  last  degree  degraded  and  melancholy.  Among 
other  facts  which  illustrate  this  remark,  it  may  be 
noticed,  that  the  Senate  of  Rome  itself  did  not  pass 
the  decree  for  the  abolition  of  human  sacrifices, 
until  the  consulship  of  Publius  Lucius  Crassus  and 
Cneius  Lentulus,  which  was  but  about  ninety  years 
before  the  coming  of  Christ.  Nowhere  is  so  much 
information  upon  this  point  contained  within  so 
small  a  compass,  as  in  the  first  chapter  of  Paul's 
Epistle  to  the  Romans.  It  is  difficult  to  read  the 
description  there  given  without  putting  a  veil  upon 
one's  face.  The  schools  of  virtue  had  degenerated 
into  the  merest  sinks  of  vice  and  immorality ;  their 
religion  itself  had  consecrated  all  sorts  of  crime ; 
while  the  best  that  can  be  said  of  their  gods  is,  that 
they  were  the  finest  representations  which  the  inge- 
nuity and  skill  of  the  sculptor  could  furnish  of  the 
basest  of  human  passions. 

Such  had  long  been  the  religious  and  moral  state 
of  the  heathen  world ;  and  when  the  Saviour  came 
it  was  at  its  maturity.  We  cannot  delineate  the 
scene,  nor  tell  its  darkness.  It  was  the  gloom  of 


14  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

pervading  error,  and  almost  universal  crime.  It 
could  not  be  seen,  for  it  enveloped  men  like  the  mist 
of  midnight,  and  was  "  darkness  that  might  be  felt." 
It  penetrated  the  halls  of  science  and  the  schools  of 
philosophy ;  it  shrouded  the  palaces  of  kings,  threw 
its  dark  pall  over  the  chambers  of  legislation,  and 
overlaid,  with  its  broad  mantle,  the  whole  pagan 
world.  Temples,  with  their  shrines,  victims,  and 
priests,  were  wrapped  in  it ;  their  vestal  fires  became 
flickering,  grew  pale,  and  were  extinguished.  Men 
there  had  been,  and  were,  who  had  erected  stupen- 
dous monuments  in  honor  of  the  human  intellect ; 
but  on  the  relations  of  man  to  his  Maker,  they  rea- 
soned and  wrote  like  children.  In  the  darkness  that 
overshadowed  them  they  walked  at  random;  they 
had  an  aim,  they  were  conscious  there  was  some- 
thing to  seek  after ;  but  they  groped  about,  "  if  haply 
they  might  feel  after  God,  and  find  him."  Here 
and  there,  at  long  intervals,  the  human  mind  cast 
forth  a  ray  of  light,  but  it  was  fleeting  and  gone ; 
like  the  sudden  lightning,  it  served  only  to  render 
the  gloom  which  followed  more  intense  and  appal- 
ling. Night  is  not  darker  than  the  dark  day  which 
then  overhung  the  earth.  If  the  deep  and  dire  exi- 
gences of  men  could  constitute  a  fitting  season  for 
His  coming  who  was  to  be  the  "  light  of  the  world," 
the  time  had  come  to  interpose  either  for  extermi- 
nating or  saving  it.  There  could  not  have  been  a 
more  seasonable  period  for  God's  unfolding  his  own 
divine  method  dlf  mercy.  The  nations  could  no  lon- 
ger be  left  in  this  fearful  degradation ;  the  prince  of 


PRELIMINARY  ESSAY.  15 

darkness  could  no  longer  be  permitted  to  roam  the 
earth  without  restraint ;  the  God  of  love  could  no 
longer  withhold  his  Son. 

Nor  was  the  religious  and  moral  condition  of  the 
Jewish  nation  more  enviable  than  that  of  the  pagan 
world.  The  Hebrew  race  were,  from  the  beginning, 
designed  to  be  subservient  to  the  introduction  of  the 
Gospel  to  all  mankind.  Lying  as  they  did  upon  the 
borders  of  Asia,  Europe,  and  Africa,  they  held  a 
position  which  signally  qualified  them  to  be  made 
use  of  for  this  purpose.  But  by  their  guilty  sym- 
pathy with  the  character  of  the  pagan  nations,  they 
became  partakers  also  of  their  wants  and  woes.  The 
apostle,  after  having  given  the  humbling  descrip- 
tion of  other  lands,  to  which  we  just  now  referred, 
applies  the  same  description  to  the  Jews.  His  epis- 
tle was  more  especially  directed  to  Jews ;  and  his 
language  to  them  is,  "  Wherefore  thou  art  inexcus- 
able, O  man  that  judgest,  for  wherein  thou  judgest 
another,  thou  condemnest  thyself;  for  thou  that 
judgest  doest  the  same  things"  The  Jews  had  long 
enjoyed  the  knowledge  of  God,  as  it  was  revealed 
from  heaven ;  they  had  been  educated  amid  rites 
and  sacrifices  that  were  prefigurative  of  the  great 
redemption ;  they  had  come  to  maturity  under  the 
instructions  of  a  lawgiver,  of  holy  men,  of  poets,  and 
of  seers  who  had  miraculous  intercourse  with  hea- 
ven, and  whose  great  theme  was  the  advent  of  the 
predicted  Deliverer.  But  they  were  an  arrogant  and 
proud  people,  an  unbelieving,  hard-hearted  people, 
and  profited  little  from  their  distinguished  privileges. 


16  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

Until  "  the  carrying  away  into  Babylon"  they  were 
an  idolatrous  people — nay,  "  mad  upon  their  idols." 
Wise  as  their  system  of  religion  was,  and  fitted  as 
it  was  to  answer  great  and  important  ends,  and  of 
divine  origin  as  it  was,  it  was  not  designed  to  be  the 
universal,  nor  perpetual  religion.  It  was  but  the 
commencement  of  those  more  complete  discoveries 
of  religious  truth,  which  subsequent  revelations  were 
to  supply;  a  sort  of  preparatory  school,  that  was 
introductory  to  a  more  perfect  dispensation.  The 
apostle,  in  his  Epistle  to  the  Galatians,  dwells  upon 
this  thought  in  its  relations  to  the  truth  we  are  illus- 
trating. "  Now  I  say  that  the  heir,  so  long  as  he  is 
a  child,  differeth  nothing  from  a  servant,  though  he 
be  lord  of  all ;  but  is  under  tutors  and  governors 
until  the  time  appointed  of  the  father.  Even  so  we, 
when  we  were  children,  were  in  bondage  under  the 
elements  of  the  world  :  but  when  the  fulness  of  time 
was  come,  God  sent  forth  his  Son,  made  of  a  woman, 
made  under  the  law,  to  redeem  them  that  were  un- 
der the  law,  that  we  might  receive  the  adoption  of 
sons."  :*.V 

The  Jewish  dispensation,  at  the  time  of  the  Sav- 
iour's coming,  was  an  old  and  worn  out  economy ; 
it  bore  the  marks  of  decay  and  dissolution  j  it  had 
accomplished  its  object  without  making  the  nation 
holy :  because  it  had  done  its  work,  it  was  "  ready 
to  vanish  away."  It  "  could  not  make  the  comers 
thereunto  perfect." 

But  it  was  important  that  its  inefficacy  should 
be  proved;  and  the  actual  condition  of  the  Hebrew 


PRELIMINARY  ESSAY.  17 

nation  was  now  such  as  to  convince  them,  and  the 
world,  how  little  it  could  accomplish.     When  the 
Saviour  came,  their  moral  depravity  was  fast  ad- 
vancing to  the  last  extremities  of  human  wickedness. 
The  cup  of  their  iniquity  was  full.     "  Never,"  says 
their  own  historian  Josephus,  speaking  of  them  but 
a  few  years  after  the  birth  of  Christ — "  never  was 
there  a  time  since  the  beginning  of  the  world  more 
fruitful  in  wickedness."    Their  national  history,  from 
the  days  of  Malachi  to  John  the  Baptist,  furnishes 
the  most  painful  and  affecting  proof  that  the  con- 
dition, even  of  this  favored  people  of  God,  demanded 
the  interposition  of  some  great  Teacher  who  should 
speak  "with  authority,  and  not  as  the  Scribes." 
Portions  of  them  were  sunk  in  great  and  dishearten- 
ing stupidity ;  and  while  the  minds  of  other  portions 
were  moved  and  excited,  they  were  in  a  state  of 
perplexing  doubt,  cruel  fear,  and  terrible  agitation. 
For  four  hundred  years,  the  people  who  had  been 
wont  to  enjoy  habitual  intercourse  with  the  Deity, 
and  to  receive  frequent  and  repeated  instructions 
from  his  lips,  had  not  heard  the  voice  of  the  God  of 
Abraham,  nor  had  a  single  messenger  from  heaven 
visited  them.     As  a  nation,  they  slept  the  sleep  of 
death,  and  seemed  to  be  fast  verging  towards  abso- 
lute destruction.     The   nation  was  not  absolutely 
broken  up ;  their  religious  and  civil  economy  were 
not  actually  dissolved ;  but  they  were  "  without  form 
and  void." 

But  the  Creator's  purposes  were  not  completed 
in  this  dark  chaos.     Already  was  his  Spirit  silently 


18  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

and  gently  hovering  over  the  face  of  the  waters. 
Rays  of  truth  began  to  be  evolved,  which  had  long 
been  latent,  and  here  and  there  a  few  faint  beams 
emerged  from  the  distant  horizon.  Minds  that  had 
been  waiting  in  anxious  expectation,  caught  the 
coming  day  as  its  first  light  kissed  the  hill-tops 
of  Judea,  and  rose  brighter  until  it  fell  upon  its 
vales,  to  "give  light  to  them  that  sat  in  darkness 
and  dwelt  in  the  shadow  of  death."  Lowly  cot- 
tages were  cheered  by  it,  and  John  saw  it  in  the 
wilderness.  The  shepherds  of  Bethlehem  beheld  it 
as  they  watched  their  flocks,  and  heard  the  cheer- 
ful voices  that  announced  its  rising :  till,  at  length, 
the  eastern  Magi  discovered  it  in  the  star  that  led 
them  to  the  place  where  the  holy  child  Jesus  was 
cradled. 

It  is  a  fact,  in  several  respects  of  deep  interest, 
that  the  age  in  which  the  Saviour  of  men  became 
incarnate,  was  also  an  age  of  great  intellectual  vigor 
and  refinement.  This  was  important,  in  the  first 
place,  for  the  sake  of  showing  that  "  the  world  by 
wisdom  knew  not  God."  One  of  the  leading  infidel 
objections  to  Christianity  is,  that  it  is  needless,  and 
that  the  lights  of  human  reason  and  the  refinements 
of  philosophy  are  able  to  accomplish  all  that  Chris- 
tianity proposes.  This  question  is  to  be  determined 
by  facts.  It  is  by  appealing  to  the  moral  character 
of  our  race  under  the  brightest  periods  of  this  world's 
history ;  to  periods  when  the  lights  of  reason  and  na- 
ture had  made  all  the  discoveries  they  could  make, 
and  when  the  wise  men  of  this  world  had  taught  all, 


PRELIMINARY   ESSAY.  19 

and  more  than  they  knew,  that  we  can  form  a  just 
estimate  of  their  instructions.  Nor  is  it  by  any 
doubtful  or  tedious  process  that  we  are  driven  to  the 
conclusion,  that  the  most  vigorous  and  best  in- 
structed minds  the  world  has  known,  themselves 
knew  little  of  the  great  subjects  of  which  Chris- 
tianity treats,  and  which  relate  to  man's  eternal  well- 
being.  It  was  an  age  of  unequalled  civilization  and 
learning  when  Christ  came  :  so  far  as  human  influ- 
ences could  render  them  so,  civilization  and  learning 
were  at  the  zenith  of  their  glory.  The  palmy  days 
of  Grecian  literature  had  indeed  become  obscured : 
the  age  of  Pericles  and  Alcibiades  passed  away  when 
Greece  was  reduced  to  a  Roman  province.  But  for 
a  long  time  after  this,  Greece  maintained  a  silent  su- 
periority over  her  conquerors ;  her  arts  of  peace  and 
her  schools  of  philosophy  still  gave  her  the  preemi- 
nence. Athens  was  still  a  great  commercial  empo- 
rium, and  the  tribunal  of  the  Areopagus,  one  of  the 
most  sacred  and  reputable  courts  of  law  in  the  Gen- 
tile world,  was  distinguished  for  its  legal  research 
and  acumen,  and  for  the  weight  and  impartiality  of 
its  decisions.  Some  of  the  most  learned  men  in  Rome 
were  still  educated  in  Greece.  Julius  Csesar  was  a 
pupil  of  Apollonius  Milo,  at  Rhodes,  and  Cicero  him- 
self, during  the  civil  wars  of  Rome,  was  a  pupil  of 
the  same  scholar,  as  well  as  of  Philo,  a  refugee  from 
Athens  and  then  at  Rome.  The  sons  of  Roman 
princes  and  senators  to  a  great  extent,  either  procured 
Greek  instructors  in  Rome,  or  were  sent  to  Greece 
as  the  favorite  habitation  of  genius,  eloquence,  and 


<JO  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

fancy,  and  as  the  consecrated  soil  where  the  arts  at- 
tained their  highest  perfection. 

Rome,  too,  then  extended  her  boundaries  from 
the  Atlantic  on  the  west,  to  the  Euphrates  on  the 
east ;  and  from  the  Rhine  and  the  Danube  on  the 
north,  to  the  deserts  of  Arabia  and  Africa  on  the 
south.  With  the  exception  of  Britain  soon  after 
subdued  by  Agricola,  the  interior  of  Africa,  and  the 
hardy  barbarians  of  the  north  of  Europe,  her  proud 
Eagle  had  become  the  standard  of  the  world.  It 
was  also  the  golden  age  of  Rome — "  the  Augustan 
age," — proverbial  for  its  preeminence  in  literature 
and  the  arts.  Augustus  Caesar,  whose  personal 
character  might  indeed  have  given  him  rank  with 
Marius,  or  Sylla,  or  Nero,  was  placed  by  Divine 
providence  in  circumstances  which  extended  his 
reputation  as  a  warrior,  a  statesman  and  a  legislator, 
to  the  utmost  kingdoms,  came  to  the  throne  about 
twenty  years  before  the  Saviour  was  born,  and  then 
reigned  in  the  splendor  of  his  power.  Whatever 
learning  and  civilization  could  achieve  for  the  world, 
it  had  the  full  and  unembarrassed  opportunity  of 
performing ;  while  the  result  shows,  that,  as  the  in- 
tellect of  men  became  invigorated  and  accomplished, 
their  morals  became  degraded,  and  their  religion  as 
degraded  and  vicious  as  the  human  mind  can  well 
conceive  it  to  be.  And  what  more  fitting  time  for 
introducing  the  Gospel ;  for  showing  that  "  the 
weakness  of  God  is  stronger  than  men,  and  the  fool- 
ishness of  God  is  wiser  than  men?"  The  Scrip- 
tures call  our  attention  to  this  remarkable  fact.  "  It 


PRELIMINARY  ESSAY.  21 

is  written,  I  will  destroy  the  wisdom  of  the  wise, 
and  will  bring  to  nothing  the  understanding  of  the 
prudent.  Where  is  the  wise  ?  where  is  the  scribe  ? 
where  is  the  disputer  of  this  world  ?  hath  not  God 
made  foolish  the  wisdom  of  this  world  ?  For  after 
that,  in  the  wisdom  of  God,  the  world  by  wisdom 
knew  not  G,od,  it  pleased  God  by  the  foolishness  of 
preaching  to  save  them  that  believe."  It  is  an  ob- 
servable expression  of  Divine  wisdom,  that  his  own 
decree  for  the  moral  elevation  of  men  should  not  be 
carried  into  effect  until  "  after  that "  human  wis- 
dom had  made  its  full,  and  fair,  and  best  experi- 
ment, and  demonstration  was  had  that  "the  world 
by  wisdom  knew  not  God."  Nor  is  there  to  be 
found  at  the  present  day,  or  at  any  period  in  the 
history  of  the  past,  more  convincing  evidence  of  the 
insufficiency  of  natural  religion,  than  is  found  in  the 
intellectual  refinement  of  that  age  in  which  "  the 
Word  was  made  flesh  and  dwelt  among  us." 

There  was  another  important  object  attained  by 
the  Saviour's  advent  at  this  period  of  intellectual 
refinement.  It  was  to  silence  the  objection  that 
Christianity  could  not  endure  the  scrutiny  of  learn- 
ing and  refinement.  In  introducing  the  new  re- 
ligion, a  religion  which,  from  the  simplicity  of  its 
rites,  the  diffusiveness  of  its  spirit,  and  the  extent 
of  its  offered  salvation,  should  stand  abreast  with 
the  wants  of  the  race,  it  was  greatly  desirable  that 
it  should  be  introduced  at  a  time  when  its  claims 
could  be  thoroughly  canvassed,  and  the  evidence  of 
its  divine  origin  could  be  put  to  the  test  by  the 


22  THEr,BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

severest  scrutiny  of  the  most  competent  and  well- 
furnished  minds.  It  had  been  an  inauspicious  cir- 
cumstance, and  a  triumph  to  infidelity  not  easily  si- 
lenced, had  Christianity,  like  the  religion  of  Mahomet, 
commenced  its  progress  in  an  ignorant  and  uncivi- 
lized country,  and  in  a  barbarous  age.  It  had  been 
no  difficult  matter,  in  such  an  age,  to  have  practised 
the  grossest  imposition ;  nor,  at  such  a  period,  would 
men  have  been  qualified  for  that  grave  research 
without  which  no  religion  ought  to  be  received,  nor 
for  ferreting  out  those  tricks  of  imposture  which 
are  attendant  upon  all  false  religions.  In  this  re- 
spect Christianity  stands  upon  high  ground.  Her 
infant  Author  first  announced  himself  to  an  age 
celebrated  in  story  and  immortalized  in  song.  His 
apostles  travelled  over  classic  ground.  They  estab- 
lished churches  in  the  land  of  Euclid,  of  Aristotle, 
and  Longinus ;  of  Demosthenes,  Solon,  and  Lycur- 
gus ;  of  Homer  and  Pindar ;  of  Terence  and  Varro, 
Atticus  and  Cicero,  Sallust  and  Livy,  Horace,  Ovid, 
and  Virgil.  Lands  that  had  given  birth  to  such 
men,  were  not  likely  to  shut  their  eyes  upon  the 
gradual  encroachment  of  a  religion  that  counter- 
acted all  their  previous  notions,  and  that  poured 
contempt  upon  their  altars  and  their  gods.  Rather 
would  they  scrutinize,  with  the  utmost  severity, 
every  item  of  the  evidence  by  which  a  religion, 
claiming  to  be  from  Heaven,  was  supported.  Reck- 
oning from  the  birth  of  Augustus  Cassar  a  few  years 
onward,  we  find  a  constellation  of  bright  and 
splendid  men  throwing  their  light  over  the  Roman 


PRELIMINARY   ESSAY.  23 

empire.  Seneca,  the  preceptor  of  Nero,  and  per- 
haps more  distinguished  for  his  moral  virtues  than 
any  other  heathen  philosopher ;  Lucan,  the  poet ; 
Quintus  Curtius,  the  historian  of  Alexander  the 
Great ;  Pliny  the  elder,  the  celebrated  philosopher 
and  natural  historian,  who  perished  during  an  erup- 
tion of  Mount  Vesuvius;  Josephus,  the  celebrated 
Jewish  historian ;  Martial,  Epictetus,  and  Quintil- 
ian,  the  last  of  whom  was  an  orator  and  critic  of 
great  celebrity,  was  patronized  by  the  emperors, 
established  a  school  of  rhetoric  at  Rome,  and  whose 
work  remains  a  text-book  in  the  modern  universities' 
of  Europe.  These  were  the  men,  and  such  as  these, 
who  exerted  an  influence  upon  the  Roman  intellect 
and  character  at  the  period  when  Christianity  began 
its  progress. 

It  may  perhaps  be  still  more  to  our  purpose  to 
remark,  that  the  age  was  one  of  great  legal  acumen, 
and  one  in  which  there  were  not  wanting  men  who 
were  familiar  with  the  laws  of  evidence,  and  were 
trained  in  the  trade  of  reasoning.  The  celebrated 
law  of  the  Twelve  Tables,  a  system  of  jurisprudence 
which  served  as  the  root  of  Roman  law,  which  was 
subsequently  digested  under  Justinian,  and  which  is 
deemed  of  no  small  value  in  modern  times,  had  al- 
ready been  selected  and  arranged.  It  may  be  ques- 
tioned, whether  the  mind  of  man  was  ever  better 
prepared  to  investigate  the  claims  of  the  new  re- 
ligion, and  the  great  facts  on  which  that  religion 
turned,  than  was  the  Gentile  mind  at  that  age  of  the 
world.  And  this  was  the  period  when  the  Saviour 


24  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

came.  It  was  when  the  lights  of  varied  science  co- 
operated with  the  deeply  imbedded  prejudices  of  men 
against  all  unwarrantable  and  ill-founded  innovations, 
that  He  came  who  had  nothing  to  fear  from  the  most 
rigid  and  unsparing  investigation  of  his  title  to  hu- 
man confidence. 

It  may  be  remarked  in  the  next  place,  and  as  an 
index  of  bright  augury,  that  at  the  time  the  Saviour 
was  born  the  world  was  at  peace.  Rome  had  risen 
to  her  proud  superiority  by  conquest.  The  seven 
hundred  years  of  the  Commonwealth  had  been  dis- 
tinguished by  nothing  so  much  as  her  conflicts  with 
the  nations  of  the  earth,  and  her  internal  and  civil 
dissensions  and  massacres.  But  by  a  most  kind  inter- 
position of  Divine  Providence,  these  evils  were  now 
suspended,  and  there  was  a  universal, armistice  be- 
tween the  great  conqueror  and  all  the  nations  of  the 
earth.  Antiochus  of  Syria,  and  the  Galatians  or 
Asiatic  Gauls,  had  submitted  to  Rome  on  her  own 
terms.  The  second  Macedonian  war  had  termi- 
nated the  kingdom  of  Macedon  at  the  battle  of  Pyd- 
na,  and  the  Grecian  independence  was  overthrown 
under  the  walls  of  Corinth.  Scipio  Africanus  had 
terminated  the  third  Punic  war  by  the  destruction 
of  Carthage,  and  the  Roman  army  had  been  trium- 
phant in  Spain  and  Gaul.  The  Numidian  wars  had 
been  brought  to  a  close  by  Caius  Marius,  and  Jugur- 
tha  had  been  led  in  triumph  to  Rome.  An  effectual 
check  had  been  given  to  the  Cimmerian  and  Scy- 
thian tribes  in  the  north,  the  revolt  of  the  Italian 
allies  had  been  happily  terminated  by  the  generosity 


PRELIMINARY   ESSAY.  25 

of  their  conquerors,  and  the  pirates  of  Sicily  had  been 
finally  suppressed  and  colonized  by  the  prowess  and 
wisdom  of  Pompey.  Jerusalem  had  been  taken  also 
by  the  same  accomplished  warrior;  and  the  em- 
bittered contest  between  the  popular  and  aristocratic 
parties  in  Rome  had  been  brought  to  a  close,  by  the 
triumphant  arms  of  Julius  Caesar  over  Pompey  at  the 
battle  of  Pharsalia.  The  internal  dissensions  between 
Octavius  Caesar  and  Anthony  on  the  one  side,  and 
Brutus  and  Cassius  on  the  other,  had  been  terminated 
at  Philippi ;  Egypt  had  been  reduced  to  a  Roman  pro- 
vince, by  the  victory  of  Octavius  over  the  far-famed 
Queen  Cleopatra ;  and  Octavius,  now  Augustus  Cae- 
sar, was  called  to  the  throne.  The  policy  of  Augus- 
tus was  a  peaceful  policy ;  his  object  was  to  effect 
the  stability,  rather  than  the  extension  of  the  em- 
pire. This  emperor  died  at  the  advanced  age  of 
seventy-five  years,  between  the  birth  and  the  cruci- 
fixion of  Christ,  and  on  his  death-bed  left  his  coun- 
sel to  his  statesmen  and  warriors  to  make  no  furtheV 
incursion  upon  other  lands,  but  to  cultivate  the  arts 
of  peace.  The  Cantabrian  war  was  terminated  after 
he  came  to  the  throne,  and  by  his  orders  the  temple 
of  Jamis  was  closed.  The  disturbances  in  the  Bos- 
phorus  were  now  appeased  by  Agrippa ;  Drusus  was 
recalled  from  Germany,  and  the  command  of  the 
army  in  that  province  intrusted  to  Tiberius.  The 
ambition  of  Augustus  was  gratified  by  the  consoli- 
dation of  the  empire,  and  all  his  plans  were  to 
augment  its  splendor  by  its  industry,  its  litera- 
ture, its  wealth,  and  its  arts.  A  short  period  after 

Bible  not  of  Man.  2 


26  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

the  birth  of  Christ,  the  war  in  Germany  broke  out 
again ;  but  at  the  time  of  his  birth,  it  was  a  season 
of  profound  peace  throughout  the  Roman  Empire. 
The  temple  of  Janus  having  been  reopened  during 
these  disturbances,  it  was  now  again  closed,  under 
new  auspices,  and  remained  shut  until  Jerusalem  was 
taken  and  destroyed  by  Titus.  Janus  was  the  god 
of  war ;  and  as  such  was  before  all  other  gods,  even 
before  Jupiter  himself.  Hence,  in  the  great  war  be- 
tween the  Latins  and  the  Romans,  the  formula,  dic- 
tated by  the  Pontifex  Maximus  to  Publius  Decius 
when  he  devoted  himself  and  the  legions  of  the  ene- 
my to  the  gods  of  death,  addresses  Janus  as  the  god 
who  was  specially  invited  to  go  out  with  them  to 
battle.  He  was  one  of  the  ancient  Pelasgian  deities. 
The  gate  of  Janus  was  the  Porta  Janualis,  one  of  the 
gates  of  the  original  Rome,  on  the  Palatine  road,  and 
an  entrance  gate  into  the  city.  As  the  city  became 
extended,  it  was  subsequently  included  within  the 
city  itself.  His  principal  temple  was  that  of  Janus 
Quirinus.  The  statue  of  this  god  was  set  up  at  the 
Porta  Janualis  rather  than  at  any  other  place,  be- 
cause tradition  recorded,  that  in  the  battle  between 
the  Romans  and  the  Sabines,  in  the  reign  of  Romu- 
lus, he  had  wrought  signal  deliverances  for  Rome 
on  that  very  spot.  It  was  the  usage  of  the  Romans 
to  open  the  gates  of  this  temple  in  the  time  of  war, 
and  in  the  time  of  peace  to  shut  them.  They  had 
been  closed  but  five  years  since  the  building  of 
Rome,  and  once  only  between  the  reigns  of  Numa 
and  Augustus,  and  that  was  at  the  close  of  the  first 


PRELIMINARY  ESSAY.  27 

Punic  war.  Rome  was  shaken  by  no  intestine  di- 
visions, and  the  splendor  of  her  foreign  conquests 
seemed  to  promise  tranquillity  for  a  great  while  to 
come.  AT  THIS  PERIOD  THE  SAVIOUR  WAS  BORN. 
Successive  wars  had  agitated  the  empire  for  ages  ; 
but  for  twelve  years,  the  confused  noise  of  battle 
had  scarcely  been  heard.*  There  was  time  for 
thought,  for  there  was  tranquillity.  It  was  a  fitting 
season  for  Him  to  appear,  who  was  the  Prince  of 
Peace  and  the  harbinger  of  reconciliation  between 
God  and  man.  It  was  predicted  of  him,  that  "in 
his  days  shall  the  righteous  flourish,  and  abundance 
of  peace,  so  long  as  the  moon  endureth." 

The  mild  genius  of  Christianity  has  nothing  to 
do  with  war,  save  to  exterminate  it  from  the  earth. 
The  spirit  of  Christ  is  not  the  spirit  of  blood.  Mili- 
tary history  is  not  the  history  of  the  true  Gospel. 
"I  came  not,"  says  its  Divine  Author,  "to  destroy 
men's  lives,  but  to  save  them."  The  church  of  God 
may  be  an  injured,  a  suffering,  a  subjugated  commu- 
nity, but  she  is  not  a  ferocious  and  warlike  commu- 
nity. Of  all  the  causes  which  obstruct  the  progress 
of  Christianity,  war  is  the  most  fatal — the  growling 
faces  of  the  double-headed  Janus,  the  most  terrific. 
There  were  none  of  these  fears,  and  none  of  these 
distractions,  when  He  descended  to  dwell  with  men, 
who  was  to  subdue  their  selfish  and  ferocious  pas- 
sions, and  "  make  wars  cease  unto  the  ends  of  the 
earth."  He  who  from  his  high  and  holy  place 

*  Prideaux'  Connexions. — Blair's  Chronological  Tables. — En- 
cyclop.  Art.  Rom.  Empire,  and  Arnold's  Rome. 


28  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

assorts  the  prerogative,  "  I  form  the  light  and  create 
darkness ;  I  make  peace  and  create  evil ;"  and  in 
"  whose  hand  is  the  heart  of  the  king,  and  he  turneth 
it  whithersoever  he  will,"  had  hushed  the  jarring  in- 
terests and  the  more  jarring  hearts  of  men,  for  the 
purpose  of  setting  up  his  kingdom,  and  giving  an 
impulse  to  his  empire,  who  "  shall  judge  among  the 
nations,  and  shall  rebuke  many  people ;  and  they 
shall  beat  their  swords  into  ploughshares,  and  their 
spears  into  pruning-hooks,"  neither  shall  they  "  learn 
war  any  more." 

"  Peaceful  was  the  night, 
Wherein  the  Prince  of  light 
His  reign  of  peace  on  earth  began." 

In  the  beautiful  language  of  the  greatest  of  Eng- 
lish poets, 

"  No  war,  or  battle's  sound 
Was  heard  the  world  around ; 
The  idle  spear  and  shield  were  high  uphung, 
The  hooked  chariot  stood 
Unstained  with  hostile  blood, 
The  trumpet  spake  not  to  the  armed  throng, 
And  kings  sat  still  with  awful  eye, 
As  if  they  surely  knew  their  Sovereign  Lord  was  by." 

Another  fact  of  interest  is,  that  the  time  of  the 
Saviour's  coming  was  that  predicted  in  the  Jewish 
Scriptures.  He  himself  was  a  Jew,  and  his  first 
mission  was  to  the  Jewish  people.  "  Unto  you 
first"  says  the  Apostle  Peter  to  the  Jews,  "God 
having  raised  up  his  Son  Jesus,  sent  him  to  bless 


PRELIMINARY  ESSAY.  29 

you,  in  turning  every  one  of  you  from  his  iniqui- 
ties." His  own  commission  to  his  immediate  dis- 
ciples was,  to  "  go  first  to  the  lost  sheep  of  the 
house  of  Israel,"  "beginning  at  Jerusalem."  The 
sum  and  substance  of  all  the  predictions  in  the  Old 
Testament,  the  whole  scope  and  spirit  of  the  entire 
system  of  its  prophecies,  is  the  testimony  it  bears  to 
Jesus  Christ.  Either  from  the  teachings  of  their 
own  lingering  traditions,  or  from  their  acquaintance 
with  the  dispersed  Jews,  or  from  their  knowledge 
of  the  Old  Testament  Scriptures,  translated  as  they 
had  "been  into  the  beautiful  and  fertile  language  of 
the  Greeks,  and  of  which  the  curiosity  of  every 
scholar  would  have  led  him  to  know  something,  or 
from  some  heaven-imparted  intimation,  or  from  all 
these  combined,  there  was  a  general  expectation, 
even  in  the  pagan  mind,  of  some  great  and  salutary 
change  in  human  affairs,  through  the  appearance 
arid  interposition  of  some  distinguished  Personage, 
who  would  become  the  benefactor  of  the  race. 
Wise  heathen  there  were,  who  had  expressed  the 
hope  that  the  world  would  ere  long  find  some  relief 
from  the  pervading  doubts  and  darkness  that  had 
so  long  rested  upon  it,  in  the  dawning,  at  least,  of  a 
brighter  day.  The  beautiful  Eclogue  of  Virgil,  ad- 
dressed to  the  Emperor  Augustus,  in  which  he  sings 
of  the  approaching  Golden  Age,  sometimes  seems  to 
the  Christian  scholar  to  be  almost  an  inspired  pre- 
diction, in  which  this  most  beautiful  of  all  the  Latin 
poets  was  carried  out  of  himself,  to  speak  of  the 
new  and  Divine  Messenger  who  was  to  be  born 


30  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

under  the  reign  of  this  favored  prince.  Different  na- 
tions of  the  earth  were  in  actual,  though  somewhat 
vague  and  undefined  expectation  of  some  such  great 
and  philanthropic  Deliverer.  Their  state  of  mind 
seems  to  have  resembled  that  of  the  pagans  of  the 
Southern  Islands  in  our  day,  who  were  disgusted 
and  sick  at  heart  of  their  own  idolatry,  and  pre- 
pared to  throw  their  idols  "to  the  moles  and  the 
bats,"  almost  on  the  first  announcement  of  the  true 
religion.  "  Men  were  weary  of  the  past ;  they  had 
a  sort  of  hope  that  the  time  was  near  when  this 
gloom  of  ages,  this  wintry  frown  would  be  succeeded 
by  the  renovation  and  loveliness  of  the  spring-time 
of  a  new  year — a  new  era,  verdant  with  the  hope 
and  promise  of  a  rich  harvest. 

This  vague  impression  upon  the  Gentile  world 
assumed  the  form  of  more  definite  expectation  among 
the  Jews.  Their  own  Scriptures  had  not  merely 
intimated  a  brighter  and  blander  period,  but  their 
prophets  had  pictured  it  in  a  perspective,  the  limits 
of  which  their  own  eyes  beheld  with  remarkable 
precision.  It  was  not  a  dream,  which  fascinated 
them  ;  for  they  held  in  their  hands  most  remarkable 
and  astonishingly  minute  descriptions  of  the  Person 
of  their  expected  Messiah,  and  the  circumstances 
and  time  of  his  appearing.  The  first  promise  in  the 
Garden  of  Eden  had  told  them  that  he  would  be  of 
human  descent,  and  subsequent  revelations  indicated 
that  he  would  be  of  Hebrew  origin.  The  time  of 
his  advent  was  determined  by  three  distinct  passages 
in  their  own  Scriptures. 


PRELIMINARY  ESSAY.  3t 

"  The  sceptre  shall  not  depart  from  Judah,  nor  a 
lawgiver  from  between  his  feet,  until  Shiloh  come.'1'' 
This  prediction  affirms,  that  the  Hebrew  state  shall 
not  have  passed  away  until  the  Messiah  shall  have 
appeared.  In  many  respects,  the  political  and  legis- 
lative authority  of  the  Jews  had  passed  away  before 
the  Saviour  was  born.  Judea  was  a  subjugated  pro- 
vince of  the  Roman  Empire ;  her  inhabitants  were 
enrolled  and  taxed  by  the  Emperor  Augustus ;  her 
laws  were  made  by  Rome  ;  and  a  Roman  governor 
had  his  palace  in  Jerusalem,  there  held  his  court, 
and  swayed  his  sceptre  over  the  vanquished  Jews. 
But  emblems  of  authority  remained  among  them 
still ;  they  were  still  recognized  as  an  embodied  peo- 
ple, until  several  years  after  the  Saviour's  advent, 
and  the  actual  destruction  of  the  city  and  temple  by 
Titus.  From  the  period  of  the  restoration  of  the 
city  after  the  Babylonian  captivity,  up  to  its  utter 
demolition  by  the  legions  of  Rome,  there  always 
had  been  "some  person,  or  body  of  persons,"  who 
ruled,  or  professed  to  rule  according  to  the  law  of 
Moses."*  After  this,  the  sceptre  and  the  lawgiver 
had  departed  from  Judah  forever. 

A  prediction  is  also  contained  in  the  writings  of 
Haggai  and  Malachi,  in  relation  to  the  temple,  of  the 
following  import :  "  And  I  will  shake  all  nations, 
and  the  Desire  of  all  nations  shall  come.  And  I  will 
fill  this  house  with  glory,  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts. 
The  glory  of  this  latter  house  shall  be  greater  than 

*  See  Stroud's  Dissertation  on  the  seventy  weeks  of  Daniel. 


32  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

of  the  former,  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts.  And  the  Lord, 
whom  ye  seek,  shall  suddenly  come  to  his  temple, 
even  the  Messenger  of  the  Covenant,  whom  ye  de- 
light in :  behold  he  shall  come,  saith  the  Lord  of 
hosts."  The  personage  here  spoken  of  is  the  pro- 
mised Messiah;  he  was  to  come  before  the  temple 
was  finally  destroyed,  and  to  fill  it  with  his  presence 
and  glory.  He  did  come,  and  did  thus  fill  the  tem- 
ple with  his  presence  and  glory  ;  and  less  than  forty 
years  after  his  coming  it  was  laid  in  ruins,  and  has 
never  been  rebuilt. 

But  the  most  remarkable  prediction  in  relation 
to  his  advent,  is  contained  in  the  prophecies  of 
Daniel.  While  this  prophet  was  engaged  in  prayer, 
the  Angel  Gabriel  was  sent  from  heaven  to  make  to 
him  the  following  communication.  "  Seventy  weeks 
are  determined  upon  thy  people,  and  upon  thy  holy 
city,  to  finish  transgression,  to  make  an  end  of  sin, 
to  make  reconciliation  for  iniquity,  and  to  bring  in 
everlasting  righteousness,  and  to  seal  up  the  vision 
and  prophecy,  and  to  anoint  the  Most  Holy.  Know 
therefore  and  understand,  that  from  the  going  forth 
of  the  commandment  to  restore  and  to  build  Jeru- 
salem, unto  Messiah  the  Prince,  shall  be  seven  weeks 
and  threescore  and  two  weeks :  the  street  shall  be 
built  again,  and  the  wall  even  in  troublous  times. 
And  after  threescore  and  two  weeks,  shall  Messiah 
be  cut  off,  but  not  for  himself :  and  the  people  of  the 
prince  that  shall  come  shall  destroy  the  city  and  the 
sanctuary ;  and  the  end  thereof  shall  be  with  a  flood, 
and  unto  the  end  of  the  war  desolations  are  deter- 


PRELIMINARY  ESSAY.  33 

mined."  The  person  whose  coming  is  here  spoken 
of  is  the  Messiah  the  prince,  who  was  to  make  an 
end  of  sin,  to  make  reconciliation  for  iniquity,  and 
bring  in  everlasting  righteousness.  The  time  in 
which  he  should  come  was  towards  the  close  of  the 
seventy  weeks,  commencing  with  Jerusalem  as  re- 
stored by  the  decree  of  Artaxerxes,  and  extending  to 
its  destruction  by  Titus. 

The  Jewish  weeks  were  of  two  kinds:  the  one, 
the  ordinary  week,  consisting  of  seven  days;  the 
other,  the  extraordinary,  or  prophetical,  consisting 
of  seven  years.  They  had  Sabbatic  years,  by  which 
their  years  were  divided  into  weeks  of  years,  each 
week  containing  seven  years.  If  the  ordinary  com- 
putation, making  a  week  to  consist  of  seven  days, 
be  adopted  in  this  prophecy  of  Daniel,  it  is  impossi- 
ble to  see  how  so  many  great  events  as  are  included 
in  the  prophecy,  could  take  place  within  the  small 
compass  of  seventy  weeks  of  days,  or  less  than  one 
year  and  a  half.  It  will  be  recollected  that  the 
repairing  of  Jerusalem  itself,  and  the  restoration  of 
the  civil  and  religious  polity  of  the  Jews  under  Ezra 
and  Nehemiah,  occupied  forty-nine  years ;  so  that 
the  prophecy  remains  to  be  explained  by  the  extra- 
ordinary and  prophetic  computation  which  counts 
a  day  for  a  year.  These  seventy  weeks,  therefore, 
amount  to  four  hundred  and  ninety  years. 

This  term  of  four  hundred  and  ninety  years 
begins  with  the  complete  restoration  of  Jerusalem 
and  the  Jewish  polity  under  Nehemiah,  and  ends 
with  their  dissolution  by  the  armies  of  Rome,  when 

Bible  not  of  Man.  2* 


34  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

the  city  was  destroyed,  the  people  dispersed,  the 
temple  burned,  its  religious  services  abolished ;  and 
people,  and  government,  and  religion,  sank  together 
into  a  common  ruin.  Now  we  know  with  great  pre- 
cision the  time  when  this  latter  event  took  place.  It 
was  in  "  the  month  of  September,  in  the  year  of  our 
Lord  70,  according  to  the  vulgar  era."  Here  the 
four  hundred  and  ninety  years  terminated ;  so  that 
reckoning  back  from  this  period  four  hundred  and 
ninety  years,  we  come  to  the  year  before  Christ, 
420.  This  ought  to  be  the  year  when,  according  to 
this  prophecy,  the  holy  city,  the  temple  worship, 
and  the  civil  and  religious  polity  of  the  Jews  were 
fully  restored  and  established,  after  the  desolations 
of  their  captivity  in  Babylon.  And  this  was  the 
year  of  its  restoration.  It  was  in  the  year  420  be- 
fore Christ,  that  "  Nehemiah,  on  his  second  visit  to 
Jerusalem,  finally  succeeded  in  bringing  the  city  of 
his  fathers  into  the  state  required  by  the  words  of 
the  angel.  Consequently,  the  complete  restoration 
and  final  ruin  of  the  city  fully  answer  to  the  begin- 
ning and  end  of  the  predicted  term."*  According  to 
the  terms  of  Daniel's  prophecy,  it  was  not  until  after 
the  expiration  of  threescore  and  two  weeks,  or  sixty- 
two  weeks  of  years,  that  is,  four  hundred  and  ninety- 
four  years  from  the  restoration  of  Jerusalem,  that 
the  Messiah  svas  to  be  "cut  off;"  and  it  was  in  the 

*  I  have  flowed  in  this  interpretation  the  views  of  Dr.  Stroud. 
After  corr>]»xring  with  some  care  what  has  been  written  on  this 
subject  bv  Prideaux,  Newton,  Marshall,  Faber,  and  Blaney,  Dr. 
Stroud  "ppears  to  my  own  mind  to  have  the  preference. 


PRELIMINARY  ESSAY.  35 

third  year  of  Daniel's  sixty-fifth  week  that  he  was 
actually  crucified.  It  was  a  fitting  time,  therefore, 
for  the  coming  of  Christ,  which  thus  confirmed  the 
truth  of  those  memorable  predictions  concerning  his 
advent,  and  thus  established  the  faith  of  his  people 
in  him  as  the  Divine  Author  of  the  Christian  dis- 
pensation. 

There  is  one  more  thought  which  we  may  not 
suppress,  which,  in  view  of  some  of  the  objections 
of  some  infidel  writers  to  the  Christian  argument 
derived  from  the  rapid  and  extensive  propagation 
of  Christianity,  deserves  a  moment's  consideration. 
It  is,  that  the  time  of  the  Saviour's  advent  was  such, 
that  it  is  difficult  to  account  for  the  success  of  the 
Gospel  without  the  intervention  of  Almighty  power. 
History  establishes  several  important  facts  in  rela- 
tion to  this  subject,  which  demand  notice. 

The  first  is,  that  within  the  first  century  of  tho 
Christian  era,  the  Gospel  had  made  a  progress  that 
is  altogether  unexampled  and  without  a  parallel.  In 
less  than  a  single  year  after  its  Founder  was  accused 
as  a  malefactor,  and  on  the  very  soil  where  his  blood 
was  shed,  its  converts  amounted  to  nearly  ten  thou- 
sand ;  in  less  than  two  years  it  overran  Judea ,  and 
in  less  than  a  single  century  it  pervaded  Syria  and 
Lybia,  Egypt  and  Arabia,  Persia  and  Mesopotamia 
Armenia  and  Parthia,  the  whole  of  Asia  Minor,  and 
no  small  part  of  Europe. 

The  next  fact  is,  that  when  it  began  its  progress 
the  prejudices  of  both  pagans  and  Jews  were  alike 
hostile  to  it.  All  the  world  were  either  Jews,  or 


36  THE  BIBLE   NOT   OF   MAN. 

pagans  ;  all  the  world  was  opposed  to  Christianity. 
It  had  to  make  its  way  against  the*  intellect  and 
learning  both  of  Jews  and  pagans  ;  against  the  habits 
of  both,  than  which  there  is  no  more  dangerous 
experiment.  The  political  force  of  both  pagans  and 
Jews  was  also  against  it.  With  respect  to  the  Jews, 
the  Sanhedrim  was  to  be  opposed ;  and  they  had 
power  both  over  the  moral  and  physical  strength 
of  the  nation.  Despised  as  the  Jews  were  by  the 
pagans,  and  though  a  subjugated  and  contemned 
people,  they  made  common  cause  with  pagans 
against  Christianity.  It  is  a  principle  of  human 
nature,  that  when  any  set  of  men  are  selected  as 
objects  of  contempt,  that  moment  are  they  joined 
together  as  a  firm  and  cemented  band.  The  strength 
of  their  union  depends  upon  the  greatness  of  the 
contempt,  or  injuries,  which  they  suffer ;  they  will 
make  sacrifices  against  a  common  enemy,  which 
they  would  find  it  difficult  to  make  for  their  indi- 
vidual safety.  The  Jews  when  among  the  heathen 
were  obliged  to  suffer  this  contempt,  and  therefore 
were  bound  firmly  together,  Yet  when  any  of  them 
became  Christians,  they  did  so  in  opposition  to  the 
persecution  of  their  own  countrymen,  as  well  as  the 
surrounding  pagans  ;  thus  proving  that  the  enmity 
of  the  human  heart  against  the  Gospel  is  stronger 
than  this  strong  principle  of  association.  But  not- 
withstanding all  this,  when  an  encounter  was  fairly 
instituted  between  the  combined  hostility  of  pagans 
and  Jews  on  the  one  hand,  and  Christianity  on  the 
other,  the  latter  was  the  conqueror.  There  is  some- 

''* 


PRELIMINARY  ESSAY.  37 

thing  wondrous  in  this  rapid  spread  of  the  Gospel 
in  such  an  age,  and  something  which  cannot  be  ac- 
counted for  upon  ordinary  principles. 

On  the  principles  by  whiqh  men  are  usually 
governed,  there  must  have  been  greater  intellect  on 
the  side  of  Christianity,  than  on  the  side  of  its  op- 
posers  ;  or  there  must  have  been  greater  bribes  ;  or 
there  must  have  been  vast  inducements  addressed 
to  man's  sense  of  enjoyment.  But  there  was 
nothing  of  all  this.  On  the  contrary,  here  are 
unlettered  Jews  contending  with  the  intellectual 
refinement,  and  subtil  philosophy  of  the  Augustan 
age  ;  preaching  Jesus  Christ  to  men  who  "  sought 
after  wisdom,"  and  to  whom  Christ  was  a  stumbling 
block  and  his  cross  foolishness.  Here  are  unlettered 
fishermen  of  Galilee,  encountering  the  pride  of  Gre- 
cian and  Roman  philosophy,  and  meeting  the  scoffs 
of  the  lawyers  of  the  Areopagus,  "  What  will  this 
babbler  say?"  when  Paul  "preached  to  them  Jesus 
and  the  resurrection."  Was  it  probable  that  the  pride 
of  distinction  and  learning,  in  that  proudest  and  most 
brilliant  age,  was  to  be  subdued  by  men,  of  whom 
it  is  acknowledged  that  they  were  neither  wise,  nor 
mighty,  but  were  selected  for  their  work  because 
"God  hath  chosen  the  foolish  things  of  this  world 
to  confound  the  wise  ;  and  God  hath  chosen  the 
weak  things  of  this  world  to  confound  the  things 
that  are  mighty ;  and  base  things  of  the  world,  and 
things  that  are  despised  hath  God  chosen,  yea,  and 
things  that  are  not,  to  bring  to  nought  things  that 
are,  that  no  flesh  should  glory  in  his  presence  t" 


38  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

And  what  bribes,  what  inducements  were  offered 
them  ?  They  were  to  take  joyfully  the  spoiling  of 
their  goods ;  to  forsake  all,  and  follow  Christ ;  to 
bear  his  reproach,  and  follow  him  to  stripes,  im- 
prisonment and  death. 

Nor  was  the  reason  of  their  success  to  be  found 
in  the  pliant  and  accommodating  character  of  Chris- 
tianity, yielding  itself  to  the  claims  of  Judaism  and 
paganism,  and  easily  becoming  amalgamated  with 
either,  or  both.  So  far  from  this,  one  of  the  pecu- 
liar obstacles  it  had  to  contend  with  was,  that  its 
propagators  never  fraternized  with  any  of  their  op- 
posers.  The  pagans  did  not  object  to  the  idols  of 
any  nation,  provided  they  would  unite  in  worship- 
ping theirs.  The  Roman  Senate  itself  expressed  a 
willingness  to  place  the  statue  of  Jesus  among  their 
gods  ;  but  Christianity  was  not  ambitious  of  this 
honor;  and  for  her  misnamed  intolerance,  she  be- 
came the  hated  religion.  She  had  and  would  have 
no  fraternity  with  the  idolatry  and  vices  of  the  age, 
but  "  rather  reproved"  and  stood  aloof  from  all ;  and 
was  therefore  denounced  as  the  unsocial  and  intol- 
erant religion. 

Nor  can  it  be  said,  as  has  been  affirmed  by  the 
historian  Gibbon,  that  their  success  was  to  be  attri- 
buted to  the  miraculous  powers  which  were  ascribed 
to  the  primitive  church.  If  these  powers  were  truly 
miraculous,  then  were  these  propagators  of  the  Gos- 
pel divinely  commissioned,  and  their  message  was 
divine.  If  they  were  but  pretensions  to  miraculous 
power,  and  a  system  of  magic  and  deception,  they 


PRELIMINARY  ESSAY.  39 

must  have  made  Christianity  weak  and  contemp- 
tible. 

Nor  may  it  be  said,  that  their  success  is  to  be  at- 
tributed to  the  fact  that  Christianity  was  a  persecuted 
religion ;  and  that  because  persecution  increases  the 
interest  and  zeal  of  the  persecuted  party,  and  rouses 
the  sympathy  of  the  people,  therefore  it  might  be 
expected  that  it  would  make  friends  by  its  very  per- 
secution. Persecution  often  destroys  the  interest  of 
the  persecuted  party.  It  is  contrary  to  the  principles 
of  human  nature,  to  suppose  that  any  man  embraces 
any  system  whatever  because  he  is  to  suffer  for  it. 
What  destroyed  the  reformed  religion  in  France? 
what  prevented  its  progress  in  Portugal  ?  what  drove 
the  religion  that  was  once  introduced  into  China, 
out  of  it  ?  Persecution.  What  drove  it  out  from  the 
valley  of  the  Valteline,  once  in  the  possession  of 
the  Italian  Protestants  ?  In  the  memorable  massacre 
by  the  Jesuits,  Protestantism  was  crushed,  and  dis- 
appeared entirely  from  the  valley.  Are  we  not  jus- 
tified in  saying,  that  wherever  there  is  sufficient 
persecution  to  put  in  requisition,  and  at  the  same 
time  sustain  the  confidence  and  moral  courage  of 
men,  and  not  to  crush  it,  there  it  tends  to  increase 
the  persecuted  ;  but  when  persecution  rises  higher 
than  this,  the  effect  is  just  the  contrary:  the  per- 
secuted cannot  weather  the  storm. 

There  is  not  an  infidel  in  the  world  who  believes 
the  truth  of  this  objection,  or  if  he  does,  who  believes 
in  his  own  principles.  Infidels  never  tell  a  man 
whom  they  would  draw  over  to  their  views,  that  he 


40  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

may  expect  to  suffer  death  for  them.  We  conclude 
then,  that  seeing  they  never  use  this  method  of  mak- 
ing proselytes,  they  either  do  not  believe  their  own 
argument,  or  they  teach  that  which  is  false.  The 
first  is  contrary  to  human  nature ;  the  last  is  con- 
sonant with  it. 

Nor  is  it  true,  as  the  accomplished  historian  be- 
fore referred  to  asserts,  that  the  unexampled  success 
of  Christianity  in  the  first  ages  is  attributable  to  the 
union  and  discipline  of  the  Christian  republic,  which 
gradually  formed  an  independent  and  increasing 
State  in  the  heart  of  the  Roman  Empire.  This  union 
was  not  formed  until  three  hundred  years  after  the 
death  of  Christ,  while  the  most  rapid  propagation  of 
the  Gospel  took  place  during  the  first  century.  Alas, 
for  Gibbon  !  infidel  as  he  was,  a  superintending  Pro- 
vidence so  restrained,  directed,  and  controlled  his 
pen,  that  he  has  furnished  the  antidote  to  his  own 
poison ;  and  a  careful  reader  may  collect  from  his 
own  pages,  what  may  easily  detect  and  neutralize 
his  infidelity.  Like  Balaam,  he  "  could  not  curse 
whom  God  hath  not  cursed ;"  nor  "  defy  whom  the 
Lord  hath  not  defied."  It  was  the  complaint  of  the 
great  enemy  of  Israel  against  their  false  prophet, 
"  I  took  thee  to  curse  mine  enemies,  and  behold, 
thou  hast  blessed  them  altogether!"  Nothing  is 
more  obvious  than  that,  in  all  those  important  par- 
ticulars in  which  secondary  causes  could  have  con- 
tributed to  the  advancement  of  Christianity,  the  age 
in  which  it  began  its  progress  was  hostile  to  its  suc- 
cess, and  everywhere  opposed  the  greatest  obstacles 


PRELIMINARY   ESSAY.  41 

to  its  triumph  ;  nor  could  any  secondary  causes  over- 
come the  deep-rooted  aversion  of  both  Jews  and 
pagans  to  its  claims. 

These  general  remarks  gain  the  more  credibility 
and  strength  from  our  own  observation  of  facts. 
Compare  the  progress  of  the  Gospel  among  our  own 
Aborigines,  among  the  Hindoos  and  Chinese,  with 
the  so  much  greater  progress  of  it  in  the  days  of  the 
apostles.  There  are  now  almost  as  many  advan- 
tages in  its  favor,  as  there  were  then  disadvantages 
against  it.  Yet  its  progress  is  less.  How  is  this  to 
be  explained  except  by  the  fact,  that  the  apostles 
did  not  go  alone  to  their  work,  but  were  attended  by 
the  Spirit  of  their  Divine  Master.  Christianity  was 
introduced  at  an  age  of  the  world,  when  it  would 
have  been  crushed  and  annihilated,  and  absolutely 
still-born,  but  for  its  own  inherent  immutability  and 
the  presence  and  guardianship  of  its  heavenly  Parent. 
The  age  itself  was  fitted  to  show  that  there  was  a 
Divine  interposition  in  behalf  of  those  who  propa- 
gated it,  and  therefore  that  it  is  itself  divine.  On 
any  other  supposition,  than  that  the  men  who  pro- 
pagated it  were  under  the  direction  and  patron- 
age of  Almighty  God,  their  success  cannot  be 
explained. 

The  time  when  the  Saviour  came  was  there- 
fore remarkably  fitted  to  determine,  whether  his  re- 
ligion possessed  intrinsic  excellence  and  power,  and 
whether  its  place  on  the  earth  could  be  attributed  to 
mere  secondary  causes,  or  to  the  power  of  God.  It 
was  remarkably  fitted  to  decide,  whether  the  char- 


42  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

acter  of  its  Founder  was  entitled  to  respect,  vene- 
ration, and  love ;  whether  the  witnesses  to  the  facts 
on  which  it  is  founded  were  entitled  to  credit  and 
confidence ;  whether  they  were  either  madmen,  or 
impostors ;  whether  the  doctrines  they  taught  found 
a  ready  advocate  in  the  bosom  of  a  world  that  lieth 
in  wickedness,  or  whether,  if  they  carried  the  hearts 
of  men,  it  must  have  been  owing  to  the  power 
of  God  ; — whether  the  character  which  Christianity 
formed,  and  the  eifects  it  produced,  were  such  as 
constituted  the  adornment  of  man's  nature,  and 
a  virtuous,  peaceful,  and  happy  community;  and 
whether  there  was  anything  like  trick,  or  manage- 
ment in  selecting  the  period  of  introducing  it  to  the 
world,  so  that  on  this  account  it  should  be  likely  to 
meet  with  the  fewest  opposers,  and  the  greatest  fa- 
cility of  access.  Was  it  the  period  when  the  estab- 
lished religions  of  the  earth  favored  it ;  or  when  it 
was  patronized  by  the  laws  of  the  land ;  or  when 
the  minds  of  men  had  any  professed  or  secret  bias 
in  its  favor  ?  Or  was  it  a  period  when  it  had  every- 
thing to  contend  with  that  is  human,  and  when,  if 
it  found  a  dwelling  on  the  earth,  it  was  because  it 
was  the  offspring  of  the  skies,  and  had  a  place  pre- 
pared for  it  of  God  ? 

There  was  most  certainly  design,  and  a  special 
Providence,  in  the  selection  of  such  a  period  of  the 
world  for  the  introduction  of  the  new  religion :  a 
religion  proclaimed  to  the  race,  and  to  continue  to 
the  end  of  time.  It  was  not  a  period  chosen  at  ran- 
dom, or  accidentally  hit  upon ;  but  one,  in  the  ap- 


PRELIMINARY   ESSAY.  43 

pointment  and  arrangement  of  which  we  may  well 
admire  the  Divine  wisdom.  No  impostor  would 
have  selected  it.  It  was  in  every  view  the  fit  time 
for  the  coming  of  the  Great  Deliverer.  "  Ascribe  ye 
greatness  unto  our  God ;  he  is  a  rock,  his  work  is 
perfect." 

Of  the  great  Saviour  it  is  declared,  that  "all 
things  were  made  by  him,  and  for  him ;"  and  that 
"he  is  Head  over  all  things  to  the  Church."  Men 
have  wondered  why  the  fulfilment  of  the  promise 
in  Eden  was  so  long  delayed ;  but  "  God's  thoughts 
are  not  as  our  thoughts,  nor  his  ways  as  our  ways." 
We  may  not  now  fully  see  the  wisdom  of  this  Divine 
arrangement,  and  the  manifold  relations  it  then  sus- 
tained, and  sustains  still  to  the  honor  of  the  Son  of 
God,  and  the  indications  it  furnishes  that  he  is  in- 
deed the  One  commissioned  to  perpetuate  a  spiritual 
kingdom  on  the  earth  where  he  was  born  and  cruci- 
fied. But  of  this  one  thing  we  are  assured,  that 
that  kingdom  will  be  perpetuated,  till  the  whole 
earth  shall  be  filled  with  his  glory.  The  great 
temple,  the  laying  of  the  corner-stone  of  which  em- 
ployed four  thousand  years,  is  not  to  be  completed 
in  a  day.  Its  grandeur  and  magnificence  will  bear 
some  proportion  to  those  preparatory  measures  and 
ages,  which  were  but  preliminary  to  its  advance- 
ment and  completion.  It  is  but  eighteen  hundred 
years  since  it  was  set  on  its  firm  foundations ;  and 
it  has  as  yet  scarcely  begun  to  grow.  A  great  and 
glorious  kingdom  it  is,  and  will  go  on  increasing  in 
extent,  in  purity,  in  power,  in  heavenly  splendor, 


44  THE  BIBLE   NOT   OF   MAN. 

until  "  the  stone  cut  out  of  the  mountain  without 
hands,  shall  become  a  great  mountain  and  fill  the 
earth." 

The  end  is  not  yet.  When  the  day  dawns  on 
which  it  shall  come,  it  will  witness  results  such 
as  the  strongest  faith  has  not  fully  anticipated. 
The  world  of  matter  was  made  for  the  world  of 
mind ;  time  for  eternity ;  the  world  for  the  church  ; 
all  things  for  the  kingdom  of  Christ.  Good  for  the 
man  that  he  had  never  been  born,  who  arrays  him- 
self in  opposition  to  this  kingdom ;  who  is  found 
without  its  hallowed  limits.  "  Behold,  ye  despisers, 
and  wonder,  and  perish  !"  Time  flies  swiftly ;  one 
day  is  with  the  Lord  as  a  thousand  years,  and  a 
thousand  years  as  one  day.  He  testifies,  "  Surely  I 
come  quickly  ;"  and  let  every  heart  respond,  "  Even 
so,  come  Lord  Jesus."  Who  will  not  hail  his  com- 
ing ;  and  with  the  grateful  emotions  of  the  sweetest 
of  all  the  sons  of  song,  exclaim, 

"  Come  then,  and  added  to  thy  many  crowns, 
Receive  yet  one — the  crown  of  all  the  earth, 
Thou  who  alone  art  worthy !     It  was  thine 
By  ancient  covenant,  ere  nature's  birth ; 
And  thou  hast  made  it  thine  by  purchase  since, 
And  overpaid  its  value  with  thy  blood !" 


ITS  INTELLECTUAL  CHARACTER.  45 


CHAPTER  I, 


THE  BIBLE  ABOVE  THE  INVENTION  OF  THE  HUMAN 
INTELLECT. 

WE  maintain  that  the  Bible  is  an  effect  superior' 
to  any  human  cause.  The  first  thought  by  which 
this  position  may  be  substantiated,  is  the  intellectual 
character  of  this  most  remarkable  volume. 

To  say  nothing  now  of  its  moral  characteristics, 
as  a  production  of  intellect  it  is  altogether  above  the 
invention  of  the  human  mind.  It  is  not  the  style 
and  outward  dress  in  which  its  thoughts  are  clothed, 
of  which  we  speak  ;  though  in  these,  large  portions 
of  it  stand  above  all  other  writings.  Rich  and  splen- 
did as  is  its  external  attire,  its  heavenly  origin  is  to 
be  sought  for  rather  in  the  originality,  the  compre- 
hensiveness, the  richness  of  the  thoughts  it  utters. 
From  beginning  to  end  it  is,  in  this  respect,  a  book 
containing  "wondrous  things."  So  that  "the  more 
we  consider  the  highest  efforts  of  the  human  under- 
standing, the  more  shall  we  perceive  of  its  feeble- 
ness, and  the  narrow  limits  which  confine  it ;  and 
the  more  also  shall  we  perceive  with  increasing  evi- 
dence, that  the  Scriptures  are  the  word  of  God,  and 
not  of  man."* 

*  Rise  of  Polytheism  and  Pantheism.  By  James  Douglass. 


46  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

1.  In  illustrating  this  general  observation,  we  be- 
gin with  the  remark,  that  the  views  which  the  Scrip- 
tures give  of  the  Deity  himself  are  altogether  beyond 
the  reach  of  any  uninspired  mind.  Although  pure 
Atheism,  or  the  absolute  denial  of  an  intelligent  First 
Cause,  finds  no  support  either  in  the  internal  consti- 
tution of  the  human  mind,  or  the  abundant  indica- 
tions of  design  in  the  exterior  universe ;  yet  is  the 
knowledge  of  the  only  living  and  true  God  to  be 
found  only  in  the  Sacred  Writings.  There  is  no- 
thing which  the  writers  upon  Natural  Religion  have 
demonstrated  more  clearly,  than  the  insufficiency, 
the  absurdity  even,  of  those  results  to  which  the 
lights  of  nature  and  reason  have  actually  brought 
men  as  to  the  character  of  the  Deity.  If  the  views 
of  those  portions  and  ages  of  the  world  which  have 
been  destitute  of  the  Bible,  may  be  fairly  ascertained 
from  the  writings  of  their  philosophers,  the  enact- 
ments of  their  laws,  or  their  religious  rites  and 
usages ;  not  only  were  their  opinions  of  the  Deity 
loose  and  undefined,  but  misshapen  and  preposter- 
ous, and  to  the  last  degree  stupid.  The  Bible  is  the 
only  book  ,which  furnishes  any  definite  and  satisfac- 
tory account  of  the  great  First  Cause.  This  great 
thought,  everywhere  else  so  obscure  that  both  the 
popular  and  philosophic  theology  of  the  pagan  world 
divested  the  Deity  of  those  properties  which  are  es- 
sential to  his  nature,  is  the  one  which  gives  to  the 
Bible  all  its  meaning,  and  imparts  beauty  and  power 
to  all  its  revelations.  On  opening  this  Book,  you 
are  carried  back  to  those  undiscovered  ages  where 


ITS  INTELLECTUAL  CHARACTER.  47 

the  eternal  Deity  existed  alone  ;  existed  everywhere, 
and  in  the  possession  of  all  those  attributes  which 
constitute  him  what  he  is.  The  image  of  God  is 
never  veiled  here :  the  Book  itself  is  full  of  God. 
His  character  and  claims  have  here  a  place  which 
no  human  composition  ever  assigned  to  them ;  his 
very  existence  and  supremacy  have  a  place,  which  is 
in  vain  looked  for  in  the  conceptions  of  uninspired 
men.  We  know  not  whether  the  views  of  God 
which  are  here  revealed,  are  to  be  the  more  admired 
or  revered :  admired  for  their  beauty  and  loveliness, 
or  revered  for  their  greatness  and  majesty.  Heathen 
poets  and  philosophers  have  alternately  charmed  and 
instructed  the  world  on  other  themes ;  on  this  they 
reasoned  and  sung  not  like  poets,  or  philosophers. 

There  are  three  thoughts  which  relate  to  the 
Divine  nature,  to  which  the  mind  of  man  could  never 
have  attained.  The  one  is  the  pure  spirituality  of 
the  Godhead ;  another  is  his  omnipresence;  the  third, 
his  incomprehensible  and  mysterious  Trinity. 

There  is  nothing  in  man  himself,  there  is  no- 
thing in  the  visible  universe,  by  which  he  can  make 
any  approximation  to  the  idea  of  pure  spirituality. 
The  Divine  existence  is  in  this  respect  altogether 
peculiar  to  itself,  and  such  as  man  cannot  ade- 
quately conceive.  The  human  faculties  do  not  en- 
able us  to  form  anything  like  an  adequate  conception 
of  the  spirituality  of  the  Divine  nature,  now  that  it 
is  revealed ;  much  less  could  they  have  originated 
this  conception.  The  same  may  be  said  of  the  omni- 
presence of  God.  The  Scriptures  tell  us  that  he  fills 


48  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

all  space,  penetrates  all  substances,  pervades  all 
minds,  and  is  equally  present  with  each  of  his 
creatures,  and  with  all  of  them  at  the  same  time. 
Now  what  human  intellect  could  have  revealed  this 
truth — a  truth  so  perfectly  incomprehensible  ?  What 
human  intellect,  unaided  by  heavenly  wisdom,  ever 
penned  that  sublime  passage,  "  Whither  shall  I  go 
from  thy  Spirit  ?  or  whither  shall  I  flee  from  thy 
presence  ?  If  I  ascend  up  into  heaven,  thou  art 
there :  if  I  make  my  bed  in  hell,  behold,  thou  art 
there.  If  I  take  the  wings  of  the  morning,  and  dwell 
in  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  sea ;  even  there  shall 
thy  hand  lead  me,  and  thy  right  hand  shall  hold  me. 
If  I  say,  Surely  the  darkness  shall  cover  me,  even  the 
night  shall  be  light  about  me.  Yea,  the  darkness 
hideth  not  from  thee ;  but  the  night  shineth  as  the 
day :  the  darkness  and  the  light  are  both  alike  to 
thee !» 

And  what  less  can  be  said  of  the  Trinity  of  the 
Divine  existence  ?  It  is  a  conception  that  never 
found  its  counterpart  in  the  invention  of  creatures. 
The  human  mind  actually  cowers  before  it.  Not  a 
few,  even  with  the  Bible  in  their  hands,  are  scan- 
dalized by  this  great  truth  on  account  of  its  mysteri- 
ousness.  Yet,  so  important  is  it  in  the  system  of 
truth  contained  in  the  Scriptures,  that  it  not  only 
envelopes  all  its  hopes,  and  enwraps  within  it  all  its 
salvation,  but  without  it  the  Scriptures  are  an  incohe- 
rent system,  and  absolutely  without  meaning.  Pagan 
lands  know  no  such  Deity ;  nor  is  the  archetype  any- 
where to  be  found  in  the  history  of  human  thought. 


ITS  INTELLECTUAL  CHARACTER.  49 

2.  There  are,  in  the  next  place,  views  presented 
in  the  Scriptures  of  the  Divine  purposes,  which  it  is 
impossible  for  any  uninspired  mind  to  have  revealed. 

There  is  the  most  perfect  simplicity  in  the  de- 
signs of  God,  as  they  are  here  disclosed  ;  yet  is  there 
a  comprehensiveness,  a  grandeur,  an  elevation,  which 
are  not  only  worthy  of  the  Infinite  mind,  but  which 
none  but  the  Infinite  mind  could  originate. 

Tradition,  taking  its  rise  in  a  supernatural  reve- 
lation, gave  some  obscure  intimations  of  wisdom 
in  the  government  of  the  world ;  but  its  teachings 
degenerated  to  absolute  absurdity.  Philosophy  spake 
of  a  fatalism,  which  extends  its  dark  and  monoto- 
nous decree  over  all  things,  and  gives  to  blind  con- 
tingency a  sort  of  universal  dominion ;  and  such 
conceptions  may  well  be  supposed  to  have  men  for 
their  authors.  The  Scriptures  disclose  those  eternal 
and  unchanging  counsels  of  the  uncreated  Deity, 
which  delineate  beforehand  all  his  dispensations, 
mark  out  the  course  and  progress  of  all  his  operations 
and  government,  and  trace  his  entire  work  from  one 
stage  of  it  to  another ;  which,  from  the  beginning, 
comprised  whatsoever  comes  to  pass  in  his  proposed 
universe;  and  which,  in  their  progressive  fulfilment, 
constitute  the  counterpart  of  the  matchless  wisdom 
that  formed  them  before  ever  the  world  was.  This  is 
the  starting  point,  if  I  may  so  speak,  of  all  the  opera- 
tions of  the  Divine  mind  ;  the  threshold  of  the  tem- 
ple to  which  the  Scriptures  introduce  us,  and  where 
their  strong  and  steady  light  begins  to  shine. 

In  their  developement  of  these  comprehensive 


Bible  not  of  Man. 


50  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

purposes  they  conduct  us  not  only  through  the  suc- 
cessive ages  of  this  lower  world,  but,  leaving  these 
great  and  measured  epochs  of  time,  penetrate  indefi- 
nitely and  interminably  into  the  vast  future.  They 
do  not  fully  draw  aside  the  curtain,  and  tell  us  what 
these  purposes  are ;  nor  do  they,  save  in  part,  dis- 
close to  us  the  particular  reasons  of  very  many  of 
the  Divine  counsels ;  yet  do  they  explicitly  instruct 
us  that  they  all  cooperate  in  securing  ends  with 
which  Infinite  wisdom  and  goodness  are  satisfied. 

Pagan  writers  knew  nothing  of  such  a  range  of 
thought  as  this :  the  human  mind  knows  nothing  of 
it.  It  is  utterly  beyond  man's  invention  ;  it  is  a  sys- 
tem, an  outline  of  procedure  which  human  thoughts 
never  would  have  compassed;  nor  would  it  ever 
have  been  known  but  for  a  revelation  from  Heaven. 
No  creature  could  thus  enter  into  the  deep  retirement 
of  God's  eternity,  penetrate  into  the  mind  of  God, 
and  tell  the  world  his  secret  counsels.  Search  the 
speculations  of  all  pagan  philosophy,  inquire  at  all 
its  oracles,  and  they  speak  not,  think  not  of  those 
all-comprehensive  counsels,  with  which  the  Sacred 
Writings  are  so  familiar.  These  counsels  have  a 
vastness  of  extent,  a  coherency  and  symmetry,  an 
all-presiding  intelligence,  which  defy  the  utmost 
efforts  of  the  human  mind.  Not  only  were  they  a 
sealed  book,  the  contents  of  which  are  unknown  to 
mortals,  but  no  mortal  could  have  known  that  a 
scheme  so  vast  had  a  place  in  the  Eternal  mind. 

3.  The  same  indications  of  a  Divine  intelligence 
are  also  discernible   in  the  account  the  Scriptures 


ITS  INTELLECTUAL  CHARACTER.  51 

give  of  the  work  of  creation.  On  this  topic  the  Bible 
speaks  with  a  definiteness  and  precision  unknown 
to  pagan  writers,  and  compared  with  which  the  sys- 
tems of  pagan  cosmogony  are  the  wildest  conjecture, 
and  as  impure  and  corrupting  as  they  are  unintelli- 
gible. Human  reason  has  never  been  able  to  in- 
struct men  how  this  world  came  into  existence. 
More  than  one  system  of  philosophy  has  sprung  up 
in  the  world,  which  endeavored  to  show  that  it  could 
exist,  and  even  how  it  could  be  made,  without  God. 
Strange  as  it  may  seem,  all  the  ancient  philosophers 
discarded  the  idea  of  creation  in  the  sense  in  which 
it  is  generally  understood  by  Christians.  They  held 
it  to  be  impossible ;  it  was  a  received  axiom  with 
them,  that  nothing  can  be  produced  out  of  nothing. 
On  this  principle,  all  that  they  allowed  to  the  Divine 
agency  was  "  the  arrangement  of  preexisting  mate- 
rials, and  the  moulding  of  an  external,  material  sub- 
stance, into  the  form  which  it  now  exhibits  in  the 
visible  universe."  Nor  is  there  any  certain  relief  from 
this,  and  other  such  like  metaphysical  jargon,  but  in 
the  simple  narrative  of  the  creation  as  given  in  the 
Scriptures.  No  uninspired  pen  ever  recorded  the 
sentence,  "  In  the  beginning,  God  created  the  hea- 
vens and  the  earth."  It  was  a  progressive  work, 
and  was  finished  in  exact  accordance  with  the  plan 
of  its  Author.  Its  progress  too  was  in  exact  coinci- 
dence with  those  laws  of  matter  which  have  been 
found  to  exist  throughout  the  material  universe  ;  the 
laws  then  enstamped  upon  it  govern  it  still.  They 
are  "  ordinances  of  heaven ;"  nor  in  all  the  progress 


52  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

of  natural  science  have  any  discoveries  been  made, 
which  are  inconsistent  with  the  simple  and  beautiful 
narrative  given  by  Moses. 

The  creation  of  which  the  Bible  speaks  is  unique 
and  perfect ;  it  has  no  disjoined  and  irrelevant  parts  ; 
there  is  a  place  for  everything,  and  everything  is  in 
its  place  ;  the  less  is  made  subservient  to  the  greater, 
the  material  to  the  animal,  the  animal  to  the  moral, 
and  all  to  God.  In  a  moral  view,  it  possesses  a  beauty 
and  glory  which  would  never  have  suggested  them- 
selves to  a  created  mind.  It  has  its  world  of  proba- 
tion, and  its  worlds  of  retribution  and  recompense : 
the  former,  this  material  visible  system,  which  is 
destined  to  come  to  an  end  ;  the  two  latter,  the  abode 
of  those  spiritual  and  immortal  existences,  never  to 
pass  away.  These  three  worlds  constitute  a  moral 
system,  the  numberless  and  various  parts  of  which, 
while  they  exhibit  strong  points  of  contrast,  are  yet 
so  related  and  combined,  that  each  part  exerts  a  re- 
ciprocal agency  and  influence,  and  all  form  one  great 
whole.  The  first  chapter  in  the  Book  of  Genesis  is 
truly  a  wonderful  composition.  "  The  very  first 
verse  is  impressed  with  the  stamp  of  its  Divine  Origi- 
nal :  the  reception  of  it  alone  would  have  overturned 
all  the  fundamental  errors  which  perplexed  the  phi- 
losophy of  Greece,  and  not  of  Greece  only,  but  of  all 
countries  not  enlightened  by  revelation."* 

Let  any  one  read  the  Chaldean  account  of  the 
creation,  as  given  by  Berosus;  the  Phoenician,  by 

*  Douglass  on  the  rise  of  Polytheism  and  Pantheism. 


ITS  INTELLECTUAL  CHARACTER.  53 

Sanchoniathon ;  the  Egyptian,  by  Diodorus  Siculus ; 
and  the  Grecian,  by  Hesiod,  and  he  will  be  convinced 
that  it  is  not  too  much  to  say,  what  Dr.  Scott  has 
said  in  his  preface  to  his  Commentary,  that  "  in  the 
first  page  of  this  sacred  Book,  a  child  may  learn  in 
one  hour  more  than  all  the  philosophers  in  the  world 
learned  without  it  in  a  thousand  years." 

4.  From  the  work  of  creation,  let  us  advert,  in 
the  next  place,  to  the  account  which  the  Scriptures 
furnish  of  the  works  of  Providence.  There  are.iridi- 
cations  here  of  intellect  that  is  more  than  human. 
There  are  some  remarkable  features  in  the  arrange- 
ments of  Divine  Providence,  as  here  disclosed,  of 
which  the  pagan  world  was  itself  ignorant,  and  which 
no  uninspired  mind  could  have  known.  There  is,  for 
example,  a  general  providence,  as  expressed  in  the 
established  laws  of  nature  ;  so  that  men  in  the  ordi- 
nary affairs  of  human  life  may  count  on  these  well- 
known  principles  of  the  Divine  government,  and 
form  their  plans  with  hope  and  confidence.  And 
there  is  a  special  providence,  in  which  the  Most. 
High,  who  ruleth  among  the  children  of  men,  may 
and  does,  in  perfect  consistency  with  the  laws  of  a 
general  providence,  countervail  the  designs  of  his 
creatures  by  accomplishing  his  own,  and  thus  main- 
tain and  demonstrate  his  perfect  supremacy  over  all 
the  affairs  of  men.  There  is  "  a  wheel  within  a 
wheel ;"  a  seeming  complexness,  yet  the  most  per- 
fect simplicity ;  for  "  the  Spirit  of  the  Living  One 
is  in  the  wheels." 

There  are  also  the  two  departments  of  Equity 


54  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

and  Sovereignty,  of  Moral  influence  and  Royal  pre- 
rogative : — this,  giving  God  the  throne,  and  securing 
the  fulfilment  of  all  his  purposes ;  that,  securing  the 
rights  of  moral  government,  and  rendering  them 
harmonious  with  a  Divine  supremacy  the  most  ab- 
solute. The  claims  of  sovereignty  never  interfere 
with  those  of  equity,  while  the  claims  of  equity  never 
jostle  the  throne.  Equity  and  sovereignty  run  in 
different,  yet  in  parallel  lines,  each  standing  abreast 
of  the  other ;  both  indicating  the  ways  of  God  to 
man — both  the  adornment,  the  strength  of  the  Di- 
vine empire.  Growing  out  of  these  obvious  and 
beautiful  principles,  is  the  truth  everywhere  taught 
in  the  Scriptures,  that  men  are  dependent,  yet  free  ; 
acting,  yet  acted  upon ;  fulfilling  the  Divine  pur- 
poses, yet  responsible.  In  these  revealed  features  of 
God's  government  there  is  wonderful  wisdom — wis- 
dom altogether  above  the  wisdom  of  creatures ;  and 
we  may  well  say  concerning  them,  "Who  hath 
known  the  mind  of  the  Lord,  or  who  hath  been  his 
counsellor?"  A  late  Scottish  writer,  in  a  review  of 
the  character  and  writings  of  the  German  philoso- 
pher Leibnitz,  remarks,  that  "  this  combination  of 
freedom  with  Divine  and  dependent  agency  includes 
something  without  the  limits  of  the  human  facul- 
ties." And  the  substance  of  this  acknowledgment 
has  been  made  by  some  of  the  most  powerful  minds 
that  have  written  upon  this  vexed  question.  These 
balance-wheels  in  the  moral  machinery  were  in- 
vented by  a  Divine  Architect,  and  are  too  nicely  ad- 
justed to  be  any  other  workmanship  than  his.  Thus 


ITS   INTELLECTUAL  CHARACTER.  55 

to  reconcile  the  apparent  inequalities,  and  seeming 
incongruities  in  the  Divine  government,  is  not  a  de- 
vice of  creatures ;  it  is  an  arrangement  which  be- 
speaks a  master  mind — the  Master  Mind  of  the 
universe.  What  the  wisdom  of  man  has  never  been 
able  to  harmonize  by  all  the  speculations  of  philoso- 
phy, the  Bible  harmonizes.  Truths  which  have 
ever  been  paradoxical,  and  which  have  shrouded  the 
highest  created  intellects  in  darkness — like  the  seem- 
ing incongruous  elements  which  compose  the  atmo- 
sphere— are  here  adjusted  with  a  simplicity,  a  skill, 
that  indicate'"  the  unsearchable  wisdom  of  God." 

Nor  is  the  fact  to  be  overlooked,  that  in  the 
method  of  God's  providence,  as  disclosed  in  the  Scrip- 
tures, very  many  of  the  reasons  of  it  are  held  in  abey- 
ance. It  is  the  glory  of  God  to  conceal,  as  well  as  to 
disclose :  he  dwelleth  in  the  thick  darkness ;  his  judg- 
ments are  a  great  deep  ;  his  pavilion  are  dark  waters, 
and  thick  clouds  of  the  skies.  "  It  were  difficult  to 
say,  whether  his  wisdom  appears  more  in  what  he 
unfolds,  or  in  what  he  conceals.  The  unveiled 
lustre  of  his  throne  would  obscure  the  dim  vision  of 
creatures."  To  creatures  of  yesterday,  he  makes 
darkness  his  dwelling-place,  if  for  no  other  reason 
than  that  he  dwells  in  light  that  is  inaccessible  and 
full  of  glory.  Such  is  not  the  manner  of  man.  Of 
all  these  features  of  an  all-governing  Providence, 
may  it  not  be  safely  affirmed  that  no  human  pencil 
ever  delineated  them  ?  This  blending  of  apparently 
contradictory  principles  in  the  Divine  government, 
this  "  temperature  of  mingled  light  and  obscurity," 


56  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

all  so  wonderfully  fitted  to  produce  in  the  minds  of 
fallen  creatures  the  most  suitable  impressions  of  the 
Divine  greatness  and  excellence,  is  the  work  of  God 
alone.  It  is  just  like  God.  It  is  assimilated  to  the 
revelations  he  has  made  of  himself  elsewhere ;  it  is 
one  of  the  characteristics  of  his  Word  which  ele- 
vates it  above  the  reach  of  human  invention. 

5.  But  if  the  Scriptural  accounts  of  these  sub- 
ordinate truths  give  the  Sacred  Writings  this  high 
preeminence,  much  more  do  they  claim  it  from  the 
view  they  present  of  the  still  greater,  and  greatest 
truth  they  reveal — the  redemption  of  man.  In  the 
centre  of  the  system  which  this  Book  reveals,  stands 
forth  this  great  work  of  redeeming  mercy,  as  the 
"  mystery  which  was  hid  from  ages,"  as  the  wonder 
and  admiration  of  all  intelligent  beings.  The  Scrip- 
tures represent  this  as  the  great  work  of  God ;  the 
work  to  which  all  the  works  of  creation  and  Provi- 
vidence  are  subservient ;  the  work  to  which  the 
past  looked  forward  with  eager  anticipation,  which 
the  present  surveys  with  wonder,  which  the  future 
will  look  back  upon  with  overwhelming  astonish- 
ment. It  was  not  an  after-thought,  growing  out  of 
the  disappointed  expectation  of  the  Creator  in  the 
formation  of  man ;  nor  was  it  a  thought  incidental 
to  the  government  which  he  had  established  over  a 
world  of  fallen  and  still  responsible  creatures.  It 
was  the  great  forethought  of  the  Divine  mind ;  it  is 
the  one  great  thought  revealed  in  his  Word. 

There  are  several  strong  features  of  peculiarity 
in  this  redemption,  which  remove  it  altogether  be- 


ITS  INTELLECTUAL  CHARACTER.       57 

yond  the  limits  of  human  invention.  We  do  not 
say  that  it  is  impossible,  or  even  improbable,  that 
the  human  mind  might  have  thought  of  some  me- 
thod of  recovery ;  but  never  would  it  have  thought 
of  such  a  method  as  that  revealed  in  the  Scriptures. 
It  would  have  been  a  method  of  arbitrary  mercy, 
without  any  satisfaction  to  the  violated  law ;  it 
would  have  extended  itself  to  one  man  as  well  as 
another,  and  comprised  the  entire  race.  It  would 
have  unfolded  no  such  features,  either  of  the  Divine 
justice  or  sovereignty,  as  are  unfolded  in  the  Gos- 
pel of  the  Son  of  God.  Had  men  devised  this 
restoring  economy,  it  had  been  human  like  them- 
selves. Philosophy  would  have  theorized  about  it  j 
it  would  have  been  sanctioned  by  the  wisdom  of. 
this  world ;  but  it  would  never  have  been  that  high 
and  wonderful  arrangement  which  extorts  the  ex- 
clamation, "  O  the  depth  of  the  riches  both  of  the 
wisdom  and  the  knowledge  of  God  !"  The  proposal 
of  a  method  of  recovery  for  fallen  men,  to  the  ex- 
clusion of  fallen  angels,  was  itself  a  novelty  in  the 
history  of  the  Divine  government.  Human  reason 
would  scarcely  have  passed  by  those  immortal 
princes  of  the  Divine  kingdom,  those  once  pure  and 
incorporeal  spirits  of  his  heavenly  court,  whose  only 
employment  had  been  to  adore,  love,  and  praise  his 
sovereign  greatness  and  goodness. 

The  facts  and  principles  embodied  in  this  redemp- 
tion are  indeed  welcome,  but  they  are  altogether 
singular ;  they  are  glad  tidings  of  great  joy,  but 
they  were  new  and  unexpected.  They  reveal  high 

Bible  not  of  Man.  3* 


58  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

and  marvellous  ends — ends  that  would  have  been 
overlooked  by  men,  and  especially  by  impostors. 

And  we  say,  almost  without  the  fear  of  contra- 
diction from  infidels  themselves,  that  the  means  by 
which  this  redemption  was  accomplished,  were  too 
marvellous  ever  to  have  been  the  subject  of  the  re- 
motest, the  most  faint  conjecture,  by  the  wisest  and 
best  of  our  race.  They  were  strange,  they  were 
mysterious  means,  and  comprised  truths  which  could 
have  originated  only  in  the  counsels  of  Heaven.  The 
union  of  the  Divine  and  human  natures  in  the  Re- 
deemer's person,  is  a  fact  which  would  never  have 
been  thought  of  by  men.  Even  now  that  it  is  re- 
vealed, it  cannot  be  brought  within  the  sphere  of 
human  comprehension,  and  questions  may  be  pro- 
pounded concerning  it  which  human  reason  cannot 
answer.  God  becomes  man ;  the  Creator  becomes 
a  creature  ;  the  great  Lawgiver  becomes  a  subject ; 
the  injured,  insulted  Majesty  of  heaven,  himself  be- 
comes the  incarnate  Saviour ! 

The  manner  too  in  which  he  became  incarnate, 
is  not  merely  mysterious,  but  has  no  example,  and 
never  can  have  any  imitation.  He  united  himself 
with  that  unequalled  individual  of  our  race,  who 
was  born  of  a  Virgin  ;  he  was  "  made  of  a  woman," 
yet  a  woman  of  virgin  purity.  There  is  no  greater 
miracle  than  his  immaculate  conception ;  and  it  is  a 
sort  of  miracle  which  mocks  the  invention  of  an  im- 
postor. It  was  the  miraculous  creation  of  the  human 
nature  of  Christ  in  the  womb  of  the  Virgin  Mary.  I 
ask  infidels  themselves,  whether  such  a  fact  as  this — 


ITS  INTELLECTUAL  CHARACTER.       59 

a  fact  so  far  beyond  the  uniform  laws  of  nature, 
that  the  thought  would  never  once  have  floated  in 
the  impure  imagination  of  man — was  not  a  pheno- 
menon, which  it  is  in  the  last  degree  puerile  to  sup- 
pose ever  formed  a  part  of  fictitious  story  ? 

Pagan  mythology  does  indeed  speak  of  incarnate 
deities;  while  their  fabulous _ and  grossly  polluted, 
and  polluting  notions  of  deities  incarnate,  evince  their 
utter  incompetency  to  have  invented  the  miraculous 
conception  of  Mary's  child.  Every  classical  scholar 
knows  that  it  was  not  thus  that  pagan  deities  became 
incarnate.  Their  notions  of  incarnate  gods  were  pro- 
bably derived  from  those  traditions  of  which  the 
Scriptures  are  the  origin ;  but  they  fashioned  them 
according  to  their  own  vile  minds. 

Nor  is  this  all.  The  incarnate  gods  of  the  hea- 
then were  infinitely  unlike  the  man  Christ  Jesus. 
He  was  spotless  and  pure  ;  a  Lamb  without  blemish, 
from  the  cradle  to  the  grave.  His  vile  betrayer, 
though  admitted  to  all  the  familiarities  of  unem- 
barrassed friendship,  could  not  impeach  his  sinless 
integrity.  Even  in  the  eye  of  Infinite  purity  was  he 
without  sin.  Heathen  writers  have  described  no 
such  character;  history  has  none  like  it;  tradition 
has  none ;  fancy  has  none ;  and  deception  and  im- 
posture have  none.  Poetry  and  romance,  with  all 
their  inventive  powers,  have  never  been  able  to 
portray  a  character  like  that  which  the  evangelists 
so  simply,  and  so  true  to  nature,  have  given  of  the 
Virgin's  Son. 

Nor  need  we  stop  here.     If  from  the  birth  and 


gO  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

life  of  Jesus,  we  advert  to  the  catastrophe  of  his 
cross,  our  convictions  are  confirmed  that  it  is  no  hu- 
man tale  of  woe.  This  incarnate  One,  so  holy  and 
harmless,  came  not  to  reign,  not  to  be  worshipped, 
but  to  suffer — to  die :  to  lay  the  foundation  of  his 
kingdom  in  his  own  sufferings  and  death.  The 
fabulous  gods  and  goddesses  of  the  pagan  world, 
have  united  themselves  with  men  for  the  purposes 
of  loyalty  and  dominion  ;  for  the  tranquillity  of  pas- 
toral joys,  and  effeminate  luxury ;  but  never  to  suf- 
fer and  die. 

Nor  was  it  simply  to  suffer  and  die,  that  he  be- 
came thus  incarnate.  It  was  to  die,  the  just  in  the 
place  of  the  unjust — the  sinless  for  the  sinful — the 
substitution  of  the  innocent  for  the  guilty.  To  save 
the  law  of  God  harmless,  he  submitted  himself  to 
the  penalty  which  man  had  incurred,  and  "  bare  our 
sins  in  his  own  body  on  the  tree."  Now  I  ask,  if  in 
all  this  there  be  not  the  most  emphatic  indications 
of  profound  and  unsearchable  wisdom  ?  Is  not  this, 
from  beginning  to  end,  altogether  a  procedure  so 
remote  from  the  apprehensions  of  men,  as  to  forbid 
the  possibility  that  it  was  of  human  fabrication? 

We  make  the  appeal  to  reason,  to  common  sense, 
whether  it  is  possible  for  the  human  mind  to  con- 
ceive that  such  a  redemption  is  the  design  of  man. 
Taking  all  the  objects  and  parts  of  it  together,  is 
there  any  greater  absurdity  than  to  suppose  it  of  hu- 
man origin  ?  Is  not  this  a  region  of  thought  where 
the  foot  of  man  never  trod  ?  Would  not  the  bright- 
est minds  the  world  has  seen,  and  the  brightest  ages 


ITS  INTELLECTUAL  CHARACTER.       61 

that  have  dawned  upon  it,  have  been  baffled,  ex- 
hausted, annihilated,  in  the  attempt  at  such  a  dis- 
covery ?  Would  they  not  have  lived,  and  toiled,  and 
suffered,  and  died  without  it,  as  the  pagan  did  live, 
and  toil,  and  suffer,  and  die  ? 

6.  Take  another  thought.  The  Bible  is  a  whole; 
it  contains  no  isolated  event,  no  isolated  truth  is 
revealed  in  its  sacred  pages.  From  the  creation  of 
the  world  of  angelic  beings  and  the  formation  of 
man,  to  the  entire  apostacy  of  the  one,  and  the 
partial  apostacy  of  the  other ;  from  the  early  reve- 
lation of  the  promise  in  Eden,  to  the  winding  up 
of  this  great  remedial  economy ;  everything  forms  a 
part  of  one  great  whole,  the  interest  of  which  is  per- 
petually increasing  as  the  stupendous  plan  advances 
to  its  close.  In  the  progress  of  this  amazing  proce- 
dure, the  glories  of  creation  and  Providence  are  more 
and  more  concentrated  in  the  greater  glories  of  this 
redemption — itself  never  once  deviating  from  its 
most  prominent  and  important  place  in  the  system 
of  God's  administrations.  The  sufferer  of  Calvary 
is  ever  the  master-spirit  of  the  whole ;  the  all-per- 
vading Deity,  everywhere  and  always  directing  and 
governing,  for  the  purposes  for  which  he  suffered 
and  died.  The  cross  of  Christ  is  ever  the  centre, 
from  the  beginning  of  time  to  its  close ;  from  the 
song  of  the  morning  stars  at  the  birth  of  this  lower 
creation,  to  the  voice  of  the  archangel  and  the  trump 
of  God,  when  this  lower  creation  shall  pass  away. 
So  that  the  three  worlds  of  which  we  have  spoken, 
thus  created,  thus  governed,  and  one  of  them  thus 


62  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

redeemed,  compose,  if  I  may  so  speak,  the  materials 
of  a  vast  moral  drama ;  the  issues  of  which,  though 
gradually  developing,  are  to  be  fully  developed  only 
at  that  great  crisis  when  time  ends,  and  eternity  be- 
gins. In  this  vast  drama,  the  three  glorious  Persons 
in  the  ever-blessed  Trinity — angels,  fallen  and  un- 
fallen — and  men  fallen  and  redeemed,  are  both  the 
actors  and  the  witnesses.  The  interests  involved  in 
it  are  the  highest  interests  of  every  immortal  being ; 
its  conflicts  the  great  moral  conflict  of  the  universe  ; 
its  triumphs  the  triumphs  of  truth  and  goodness.  In 
its  progress  darkness  and  error,  sin  and  misery,  are 
gradually  retiring  and  being  subdued :  death  is  anni- 
hilated, while  light,  truth,  holiness  and  happiness, 
become  more  and  more  triumphant,  up  to  the  time 
when  "  the  mystery  of  God  is  perfected,"  and  the 
redeemed  and  unfallen  universe  commences  a  new 
and  eternal  era  of  obedience  and  praise. 

The  single  fact  of  the  resurrection  of  the  body — 
that  heavy  clog  and  incumbrance  of  the  soul,  which 
the  religion  of  nature  and  the  writings  of  human 
reason  consign  to  the  dust,  which  sense  locks  up  in 
the  dark  sepulchre,  and  which  natural  science  scat- 
ters to  the  winds,  ingulfs  in  the  waters,  sees  rarefied 
into  smoke  and  vapor,  and  in  a  thousand  combina- 
tions entering  into  and  forming  a  part  of  the  vege- 
table and  animal  tribes — is  itself  a  thought  too  won- 
derful for  the  human  mind  ever  to  have  originated. 
No  wonder  that  the  learned  men  of  Greece  scoffed 
and  mocked  when  Paul  announced  it  in  the  Areopa- 
gus df  Athens.  Yet  the  Scriptures  tell  us,  that  at 


ITS  INTELLECTUAL  CHARACTER.  (,3 

the  sounding  of  the  last  trumpet,  all  the  bodies  of 
countless  generations,  all  over  the  earth  and  from 
the  depths  of  the  sea,  shall  come  forth.  Next  to 
Deity  assuming  his  form  of  humanity,  this  is  the 
wonder  of  all  wonders. 

What  scenes  will  be  disclosed  when  the  cur- 
tain is  drawn  upon  the  opening  ages  of  the  coming 
eternity !  The  sun  shall  be  turned  into  darkness, 
and  the  moon  into  blood ;  the  stars  shall  fade,  and 
the  frame  of  this  lower  world  be  dissolved.  The 
dead  shall  be  summoned  from  their  graves,  and  a 
risen  world  brought  forth  from  the  sepulchre  of  ages, 
to  appear  at  his  bar  who  expired  on  the  cross. 

The  attending  universe  shall  stand  spectators  of 
scenes,  in  which  they  themselves  have  been  and  are 
the  actors ;  the  Redeeming  God  shall  be  glorified  in 
his  saints,  and  admired  in  all  them  that  believe  ;  and 
then  the  end  shall  come — the  final,  the  unalterable 
eternity.  The  earth  shall  be  burnt  up  and  the  hea- 
vens dissolved.  The  wicked  shall  go  away  into 
everlasting  punishment,  and  the  righteous  into  life 
eternal. 

O  what  events  are  these,  to  have  taken  rise  in 
the  narrow  conceptions  of  men !  What  a  range  of 
thought  is  here !  Can  the  Book,  which  reveals 
such  things  as  these,  be  the  work  of  man  ?  Does 
not  the  disclosure  of  such  realities  carry  home  to 
our  bosoms  the  firm  and  solid  conviction,  that  it  is 
from  the  revealing  Spirit  who  "  searcheth  all  things, 
even  the  deep  things  of  God  ?"  Does  it  not  defy 
the  utmost  efforts  of  our  limited  faculties?  And 


64  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

if  human  minds  and  human  pens  were  employed 
to  make  such  disclosures,  is  it  not  obvious  that 
they  were  minds  and  pens  "  moved  by  the  Holy 
Ghost?" 

7.  Another  thought  which  illustrates  the  position 
on  which  we  are  dwelling,  is  the  inexhaustible  ful- 
ness of  the  Sacred  Writings.  We  can  furnish  but 
a  bare  suggestion  on  this  rich  and  varied  topic,  to  be 
traced  out  and  amplified,  as  it  may  present  itself  in 
different  lights  and  forms  to  different  minds.  The 
Bible  is,  in  this  respect,  a  most  wonderful  volume. 
There  is  nothing  like  it  in  the  wide  world ;  no  such 
source  of  intellectual  wealth  :  itself  never  exhausted, 
yet  exhausting  the  brightest,  strongest,  and  most  po- 
tent minds.  A  candid  mind,  that  has  been  prepos- 
sessed against  it,  needs  but  to  read  it,  in  order  to 
confess  with  shame  that  it  has  disappointed  its  pre- 
judices, and  that  it  is  enriched  with  thoughts  alto- 
gether beyond  any  other  volume. 

There  are  thoughts  in  this  sacred  Book,  which 
though  perfectly  obvious  when  seen,  are  not  seen  on 
the  first  or  the  second  inspection,  even  though  that 
inspection  be  ever  so  full.  Instances  of  this  kind  so 
frequently  occur,  that  they  are  continually  sources 
of  surprise  and  admiration  even  to  the  most  reflect- 
ing minds.  It  is  wonderful  to  observe,  what  new 
trains  of  thought  of  prodigious  interest  are  often 
suggested  by  a  single  sentence,  a  single  fact  recorded 
in  the  Bible  ;  a  word,  a  date,  not  before  observed,  or 
not  understood,  or  viewed  in  some  new  aspect. 
The  Bible  seems,  in  this  respect,  almost  like  en- 


ITS  INTELLECTUAL  CHARACTER.  65 

chanted  ground  ;  or  rather,  like  the  embowered  pre- 
cincts of  some  unearthly  world.  As  we  pass  over  its 
luxuriant  plains,  and  tread  its  wide  and  accustomed 
avenues,  we  unexpectedly  discover  a  thousand  less 
frequented  paths  that  open  views — views  of  inde- 
scribable richness  and  beauty — that  are  new  and  im- 
measurable. It  is  difficult  if  not  impossible  to  re- 
sist the  impression,  that  the  light  which  shines  upon 
us  is  from  no  earthly  source,  but  beams  from  the 
Infinite  Intelligence  above  us.  The  mind  is  never 
weary  in  tracing  out  these  opening  vistas  of  truth, 
except  from  its  own  infirmity ;  and  even  when  thus 
wearied,  may  always  recover  and  refresh  itself  at 
unwasting  fountains,  scattered  by  the  wayside,  and 
everywhere  overhung  by  the  dense  shadow  of  the 
Tree  of  Life. 

We  do  not  find  it  so  with  any  other  book.  This 
is  one  of  the  great  peculiarities  of  the  Bible  ;  it  is  an 
exhaustless  volume.  Viewed  as  a  whole,  it  is  like 
the  full-orbed  sun  ;  which  though  it  may  have  spots 
on  its  disk,  dazzles  by  its  splendor  ;  and  the  more  we 
gaze  upon  it,  and  the  more  its  light  emanates  and  is 
diffused,  the  more  do  its  resources  appear  unwasting. 
Portions  of  this  Book  seem  deep  and  unfathomable  •, 
but  even  its  deepest  recesses  are  neither  empty  nor 
dark.  It  is  a  vast  profound,  which  lies  open  to  the 
day  j  where,  though  reason's  lamp  alone  were  dark- 
ness, yet  the  deeper  it  descends,  it  not  only  encoun- 
ters no  noxious  vapors,  but,  as  in  a  mine  of  jewels,  in 
every  discovered  gem  it  receives  back  the  reflected 
light  of  heaven.  There  is  no  other  book  which  a 


06  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

few  careful  readings  of  a  sound  and  retentive  mind 
will  not  exhaust.  Yet  men  there  are,  who  have 
made  this  volume  the  object  of  their  study  for  half 
a  century ;  who  have  examined  every  paragraph  it 
contains  with  repeated  and  closest  scrutiny,  and  with 
every  fresh  perusal  have  discovered  new  thoughts, 
and  new  causes  for  wonder  and  joy.  The  more 
deeply  they  have  become  absorbed  in  its  pages,  the 
more  deep  and  thorough  has  been  their  conviction 
of  its  illimitable  resources — a  conviction  uniformly 
strengthened  by  their  growing  acquaintance  with 
its  instructions,  and  by  all  the  effort  and  honesty, 
the  humility  and  prayer,  they  have  been  enabled  to 
bring  to  their  researches. 

There  was  an  humble  fisherman  on  the  lakes  of 
Palestine,  who  wrote  a  short  treatise,  so  replete  with 
heavenly  truth,  that  Archbishop  Leighton,  whom 
Dr.  Doddridge  calls  "that  wonderful  man,"  em- 
ployed years  of  intense  and  delighted  labor  in  illus- 
trating the  rich  and  heart-affecting  lessons  it  con- 
tains— lessons,  which  furnished  even  the  splendid 
mind  of  Coleridge  with  many  of  those  "  aphorisms  " 
which  form  the  bases  of  his  far-famed  "  Aids  to  Re- 
flection." Nor  do  the  Epistles  of  Peter  stand  alone 
as  exhibitions  of  intellectual  vigor  and  richness,  to 
which  minds  unaided  by  the  Holy  Spirit  never  as- 
pired. There  is  no  book  in  any  age,  in  any  coun- 
try, which  can,  in  this  respect,  be  compared  with 
the  Bible.  It  has  very  little  in  common  with  other 
books :  aside  from  some  of  its  genealogical  records, 
it  has  borrowed  nothing  from  them ;  while  it  is  the 


ITS  INTELLECTUAL  CHARACTER.  67 

inexhausted,  inexhaustible  source  from  which  every- 
thing that  is  truly  valuable,  on  the  great  subjects  of 
which  it  treats,  is  derived. 

8.  There  is  one  general  remark  which  should  be 
carried  along  in  the  mind  of  the  reader,  with  all  the 
preceding  considerations.  It  relates  to  the  intellec- 
tual character  of  the  writers,  and  of  the  age  in  which 
the  Bible  was  written.  It  was  written,  for  the  most 
part,  by  men  of  no  extraordinary  talents  or  learning. 
With  a  few  distinguished  exceptions,  they  were  plain 
shepherds,  and  humble,  illiterate  fishermen.  But 
they  wrote  as  never  man  wrote,  on  themes  of  bound- 
less extent,  illimitable  grandeur,  thrilling  interest, 
"and  never  fall  below  their  lofty  theme."  They 
use  the  language  of  men,  because  they  are  men  to 
whom  they  address  themselves  ;  and  because  Infinite 
wisdom  and  goodness  are  wont  to  stoop  thus  low, 
do  they  condescend  to  all  the  varieties  of  human 
want  and  degradation,  and  in  so  doing  seem,  to  a 
superficial  reader,  occasionally  to  descend  to  instruc- 
tions that  are  unworthy  of  their  elevated  objects. 
Those  very  portions  of  their  writings  with  which 
infidels  have  so  often  made  themselves  merry,  were 
most  wisely  suited  to  the  exigences  of  the  times  and 
people  to  whom  they  were  addressed.  And  moreover, 
the  books  which  contain  them  form  the  first  and  ear- 
liest literary  productions  in  the  world.  Nor  is  it  a  cir- 
cumstance to  be  overlooked,  that  although  thus  writ- 
ten in  the  very  infancy  of  letters,  and  standing  alone 
as  they  do  at  the  close  of  the  first  fifteen  centuries 
after  the  'creation,  they  should,  by  the  common  con- 


68  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

sent  of  literary  men,  hold  the  acknowledged  preemi- 
nence. Moses,  their  author,  and  whom  we  affirm  to 
have  been  divinely  inspired,  died  about  fourteen  hun- 
dred and  forty  years  before  Christ ;  nor  are  there  any 
human  writings  known  to  us  until  long  after  his  time. 
Yet  Assyria,  Phoenicia,  and  Egypt  were  not  without 
science  and  the  arts,  and  the  latter  not  without  hiero- 
glyphical  writing.  Between  the  time  of  Moses  and 
David,  there  is,  I  believe,  but  a  single  author  with- 
out the  pale  of  the  Israelitish  prophets.  I  refer  to 
Sanchoniathon,  the  Phoenician  historian,  who  flour- 
ished about  the  time  that  Gideon  was  the  Judge  in 
Israel.  These  facts  are  not,  we  confess,  convincing 
evidence  of  themselves  that  the  five  books  of  Moses 
are  of  divine  origin ;  while, taken  in  connection  with 
the  subject  matter  of  these  books,  their  immeasur- 
able superiority  to  the  acknowledged  writings  of 
men,  and  the  fact  that  they  claim  to  be  of  more 
than  mere  human  authority,  they  are  of  consequence 
to  the  argument  in  favor  of  their  inspiration. 

With  regard  to  other  portions  of  these  writings, 
the  learned  reader  will  bear  in  mind  a  remark  of  a 
different  kind.  The  greater  part  of  those  which  are 
subsequent  to  the  five  books  of  Moses,  were  written 
during  those  periods  of  the  world  when  men  of  gi- 
gantic intellect,  and  high  literary  fame,  appeared  in 
pagan  lands.  They  were  men  whor  claim  the  ad- 
miration of  succeeding  ages,  and  whose  works  have 
come  down  to  our  own  times.  Homer  flourished  in 
the  days  of  Solomon  ;  Hesiod,  not  far  from  the  time 
of  Joel,  Amos,  Hosea,  and  Isaiah ;  Sappho,  during 


ITS  INTELLECTUAL  CHARACTER.       59 

the  time  of  Habakkuk  and  Daniel ;  Solon  and  Anac- 
reon,  during  the  life  of  Ezekiel ;  Pindar,  in  the 
days  of  Haggai  and  Zechariah  ;  Eschylus,  Socrates, 
Zeno  and  Herodotus,  in  the  age  of  Haggai,  Zech- 
ariah and  Ezra.  The  splendid  writers  of  the  Peric- 
lean  age  of  Greece,  and  the  Augustan  age  of  Rome, 
all  flourished  between  the  period  of  the  later  minor 
prophets  and  the  close  of  the  first  century  of  the 
Christian  era. 

There  are  high  embellishments  of  taste,  and  un- 
wonted inventions  of  a  creative  imagination,  in  the 
writings  of  some  of  the  pagan  poets ;  there  are  in- 
deed bewitching  fascinations ;  but  they  are  not  the 
fascinations  t>f  thought,  of  truth.  Compared  with 
the  riches  of  truth,  the  luxury  of  thought,  which  are 
to  be  found  in  the  writings  of  their  contemporaries 
in  the  sacred  volume,  or  even  with  the  descriptive 
powers  that  are  there  developed,  the  Greek  and  Ro- 
man classics  are  but  highly-wrought  fables. 

But  we  need  not  pursue  these  reflections.  The 
benevolent  Creator  has  endued  man  with  large 
powers  of  thought  and  achievement ;  yet  are  there 
deeds  he  cannot  perform,  and  thoughts  to  which  his 
aspiring  mind  is  unequal.  They  are  not  human 
thoughts,  nor  do  they  come  under  the  range  of  hu- 
man powers,  that  are  revealed  in  the  Bible.  It  is 
not  the  light  of  any  created  intellect  which  thus  de- 
velopes  and  brings  out  the  works  and  ways  of  God, 
from  the  dawn  of  time  down  to  the  setting  sun  of 
this  earthly  sphere.  Books  multiply,  and  libraries 
accumulate  through  his  capacity  and  toil ;  yet  is 


70  THE   BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

there  this  one  Book,  which  transcends  the  highest 
efforts  of  his  giant  intellect.  His  severest  toil  has 
never  penetrated  so  deep,  his  loftiest  powers  have 
never  soared  so  high,  as  these  illimitable  boundaries 
of  uncreated  thought.  The  works  of  men  bear  no 
more  comparison  to  this  great  work  of  Infinite  Intel- 
ligence, than  a  particle  of  vapor  does  to  the  ocean, 
or  the  flight  of  a  moment  to  eternity.  It  is  at  such 
a  vast  remove  from  all  the  conceptions  of  created 
wisdom,  that  the  credulity  is  not  to  be  envied  which 
looks  upon  it  as  a  book  of  imposture,  or  the  inven- 
tion of  uninspired  men,  or  in  any  other  view  than  as 
exhibiting  the  permanent  and  fixed  impression  of  the 
wondrous  Deity. 

In  the  order  of  time,  we  take  then  our  first  stand 
here ;  and  claim  for  this  Book,  the  tribute  due  to 
more  than  human  intelligence.  We  ask  the  might- 
iest intellects  of  earth  to  spread  it  before  them,  and 
tell  us  when  and  where  it  has  been  equalled,  and  if 
it  partakes  not  of  the  infinite  character  of  Him  that 
inhabiteth  eternity,  and  of  that  eternity  which  it  re- 
Veals  ?  We  ask  them,  as  they  travel  over  the  rich 
and  variegated  domain  of  science  and  philosophy,  if 
they  anywhere  find  such  intellectual  riches ;  and  if 
there  be  not  here  heights  and  depths,  plains,  foun- 
tains, and  oceans  of  thought,  the  wonders  of  which 
man  cannot  find  terms  to  express,  while  his  highest 
conceptions  of  them  leave  these  wonders  unex- 
plored ? 


ITS  SPIRIT  SUPERHUMAN.  71 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE   SPIRIT  OF  THE   BIBLE  A  SUPERHUMAN  SPIRIT. 

HUMAN  authors  leave  the  impress  of  their  char- 
acter upon  their  works.  No  human  volume  was 
ever  written,  that  does  not  itself  show  that  it  is  hu- 
man. The  best  spirit  and  the  purest  motives  that 
ever  guided  the  pen  of  man,  have  been  discolored 
and  tinged  by  the  obvious  frailties  of  humanity. 
The  works  even  of  such  men  as  Richard  Baxter, 
Jonathan  Edwards,  and  Robert  Hall,  discover  the 
imperfections  common  to  good  men ;  while,  at  the 
same  time,  in  reading  the  productions  of  such  au- 
thors, we  feel  that  we  are  holding  intercourse  with 
minds  and  hearts  that  were  the  adornments  of  their 
race.  We  not  only  find  ourselves  ranging  rich  fields 
of  thought,  but  we  breathe  the  atmosphere  of  sin- 
cerity and  kindness;  we  are  refreshed  with  fruits 
plucked  for  us  from  the  Tree  of  Life.  When,  on  the 
other  hand,  we  read  the  works  of  such  men  as  Yol- 
taire,  Hume,  and  Byron,  the  first  and  predominant 
feeling  which  arises  in  our  bosoms  is  the  admira- 
tion of  high  talent  prostituted  to  vile  ends ;  we  are 
revolted  by  their  cold  and  remorseless  selfishness 
and  pride.  If  they  interest  us,  it  is  because  they  in- 
terest our  weaknesses  and  faults ;  if  they  conduct  us 


72  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

sometimes  to  a  clear  and  mountain  atmosphere,  it 
chills  us.;  if  sometimes  into  low  and  marshy  grounds, 
it  is  to  diffuse  an  offensive  and  infectious  miasma  ; 
and  if  sometimes  they  invite  us  to  repose,  it  is  un- 
der shadows  which,  like  the  branches  of  the  Upas, 
distil  poison  upon  us,  and  invite  us  to  the  sleep  of 
death.  The  most  imposing  efforts  of  intellect  are 
but  "  splendid  sins  "  where  they  originate  in  a  wrong 
spirit,  and  are  not  controlled  by  the  love  of  God  and 
man.  Where  selfishness  and  pride,  deceit  and  malig- 
nity, are  the  presiding  genius,  nothing  is  more  to  be 
dreaded  than  preeminent  intellectual  endowments. 

It  is  not  more  true,  that  the  Bible  is  too  great 
ever  to  have  been  the  invention  of  the  human  intel- 
lect, than  that  it  is  too  good  a  book  ever  to  have  orig- 
inated with  the  human  heart.  Infinite  intelligence 
is  not  more  certainly  the  exclusive  attribute  of  the 
"  God  only  wise,"  than  unmingled,  infinite  goodness 
belongs  only  to  him  "whose  nature  and  whose  name 
are  Love."  His  intelligence  renders  him  great ;  his 
goodness  bespeaks  him  amiable  and  lovely.  They 
are  not  so  much  the  bright,  far-reaching  thoughts 
of  his  mighty  intellect,  flowing  as  they  do,  clear  as 
crystal  from  the  uncreated  Fountain,  that  so  much 
interest  us,  as  the  brighter  and  purer  emotions  of 
his  wonderful  love,  flowing  as  they  do,  and  spark- 
ling as  they  flow,  in  rivers  of  life  from  that  eternal, 
immense  ocean  of  kindness,  which  no  line  can 
fathom,  and  which  is  bounded  by  no  shore. 

Deism  rests  its  whole  system  of  unbelief  in  the 
Sacred  Scriptures  upon  the  fact  that  God  is  good ; 


ITS   SPIRIT  SUPERHUMAN.  73 

while  it  is  from  the  same  premises  that,  as  believers 
in  divine  revelation,  we  deduce  the  conclusion  that 
they  have  God  for  their  author.  If  this  is  God's 
Bible,  it  is  not  merely  a  revelation  of  the  mind  and 
intelligence  of  God,  it  is  a  peculiar  cast  of  intelli- 
gence ;  a  peculiar  spirit ;  a  spirit  to  which  the  un- 
aided mind  of  man  never  attained ;  and  which, 
though  partially  infused  into  the  works  of  uninspired 
men,  was  first  infused  into  this  parent  reservoir.  It 
is  the  intrinsic  goodness,  the  inherent  loveliness  of 
the  Bible,  that  gives  it  its  preeminence.  The  spirit 
of  this  Book  is  the  spirit  of  love  and  kindness,  of 
benignity  and  good  will ;  it  is  a  disposition  which 
delights  in  contributing  to  the  happiness  of  others ; 
which  exercises  itself  in  directing  men  to  the  true 
sources  of  happiness,  in  gratifying  their  best  wishes, 
supplying  their  wants,  alleviating  their  distresses, 
shielding  them  from  the  dangers  to  which  they  are 
exposed,  and  consulting  their  highest  good  upon  the 
largest  scale,  both  for  the  life  that  now  is,  and  that 
which  is  to  come.  This  is  its  uniform  turn  of 
thought.  Goodness  is  luminous  on  every  leaf;  it 
transpires  in  every  paragraph ;  it  breathes  itself 
throughout  the  whole ;  and  though  to  an  unintelli- 
gent reader,  and  to  a  perverted  mind,  it  may  some- 
times be  obscured,  yet  does  this  peerless  spirit 
become  more  obvious  with  every  intelligent  and 
ingenuous  view  of  its  pages. 

1.  In  illustrating  these  general  observations  we 
remark,  in  the  first  instance,  that  this  peculiar  spirit 
of  the  Bible  appears  in  its  precepts  and  truths. 

Bible  not  of  M»n.  A 


74  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

There  is  a  single  affection  of  the  heart  which  ex- 
hausts all  its  precepts.  "  Love  is  the  fulfilling  of 
the  law."  Within  the  comprehensive  range  of  this 
single  affection  is  found  all  that  is  amiable  and  bene- 
volent ;  all  that  gives  joy  to  the  bosom  that  fosters 
it ;  all  that  transforms  the  world  in  which  we  dwell 
from  the  chaos  which  it  is,  to  the  paradise  which  it 
should  be.  There  is  nothing  here  that  is  ungener- 
ous and  mean,  nothing  dark  and  suspicious,  nothing 
selfish  and  solitary,  nothing  overbearing  and  con- 
temptuous, nothing  that  is  implacable  and  cruel.  It 
is  the  spirit  of  gentleness  in  opposition  to  violence, 
blessing  in  opposition  to  cursing,  pity  in  opposition 
to  contempt,  meekness  and  loveliness  in  opposition 
to  haughtiness,  patience  in  opposition  to  rashness 
and  insult,  forgiveness  in  opposition  to  wrong  and 
injury,  love  in  opposition  to  hatred.  Here  are  all 
those  sweet  sympathies  which  not  only  tranquillize 
the  stormy  passions,  but,  like  flowers  that  skirt  the 
snow-clad  mountain  tops,  show  the  power  of  heav- 
enly truth  upon  the  soul,  melting  away  its  cold  indif- 
ference, and  cheering  the  chilled  traveller  in  his  wea- 
ried way.  There  is  not  one  among  all  its  truths  that 
does  not  fall  in  with  this  delightful  spirit.  The  de- 
sign and  tendency  of  the  most  humbling  of  them  is 
to  produce  a  spirit  of  love,  and  a  loveliness  of  spirit, 
such  as  no  other  truths  produce.  There  is  nothing 
in  them  that  is  revolting,  save  to  a  selfish  and  nar- 
row mind ;  they  have  no  wayward  spirit,  but  all  their 
aim  and  tendency  are  to  subdue  the  wayward  spirit 
of  men.  They  form  a  sort  of  mould,  into  which, 


ITS  SPIRIT  SUPERHUMAN.  75 

when  the  heart  of  man  is  cast,  the  rough  ore  is  melted 
and  transformed,  and  comes  out  with  streaks  and 
layers  of  gold.  The  mighty  Agent  in  this  wondrous 
transformation  records  the  blessedness  of  his  own 
work  in  the  memorable  sentence,  "  The  fruit  of  the 
Spirit  is  love,  joy,  peace,  long-suffering,  gentleness, 
goodness,  meekness,  temperance."  Deceivers  there 
have  been  among  those  who  professed  to  be  influ- 
enced by  it ;  deceived  and  enthusiasts  there  have 
been,  carried  away  by  a  warmed  and  overweening 
imagination,  who,  like  the  stony-ground  hearers,  re- 
ceived the  word  with  joy  only  for  a  time ;  imperfect 
men  there  are,  and  have  been,  and  will  be,  who  not- 
withstanding its  benign  influence  show  that  the  root 
of  bitterness  is  not  altogether  eradicated  ;  while  there 
are  millions  who,  in  all  sobriety  of  thought,  have 
felt  and  proved  its  power  in  making  them 'bright 
patterns  of  its  benevolent  spirit.  Its  object  is  to  im- 
press upon  the  mind  its  own  image,  imbue  it  with 
all  that  is  affectionate  and  kind,  and  perpetuate  a 
habit  and  temper  of  mind,  which  are  as  far  above 
this  world  as  the  heavens  are  above  the  earth. 

2.  It  deserves  remark  too,  that  this  peculiar  spirit 
is  most  emphatically  expressed  in  all  its  tenderness, 
when  and  where  it  is  most  needed.  There  are  pe- 
riods in  every  man's  history,  when  the  accents  of 
love  are  winning  accents  ;  when  the  voice  of  tender- 
ness reaches  the  deep  recesses  of  his  woe ;  and  when, 
like  the  harp  of  David  upon  the  agitated  mind  of 
Saul,  it  charms  the  evil  spirit  within  the  soul.  Such 
is  the  Bible  in  those  periods  of  discomfort,  depres- 


76  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

sionand  darkness,  which  are  superinduced  by  man's 
condition,  and  which  are  not  a  little  peculiar  in  dif- 
ferent stages  of  his  moral  career.  Extending  its 
views  far  beyond  the  horizon  of  human  vision,  and  its 
sympathies  far  beyond  the  sympathies  of  earth,  not 
only  is  it  a  messenger  of  love,  but  fits  its  relief,  and 
times  its  counsels,  to  the  exigences  of  human  woe. 
To  the  unblest  millions  in  pagan  lands,  its  mes- 
sage is,  "  Look  unto  me,  and  be  ye  saved,  all  ye 
ends  of  the  earth ;  for  I  am  God,  and  there  is  none 
else!"  To  the  obdurate  and  stout-hearted, its  mes- 
sage is,  "  Hearken  unto  me,  ye  that  are  stout-hearted 
and  far  from  righteousness ;  behold,  I  bring  near  my 
righteousness,  and  my  salvation  shall  not  tarry."  To 
restless  pride,  and  wearied  self-righteousness,  and 
ceremonial  superstition,  it  says,  "  Come  unto  me,  all 
ye  that  labor  and  are  heavy  laden,  and  I  will  give 
you  rest."  To  the  unhappy  of  every  name  and  age, 
it  proclaims,  "  Ho  every  one  that  thirsteth,"  let  him 
"  take  the  water  of  life  freely."  It  watches  over  the 
germ  of  awakened  thought  and  right  feeling,  and 
encourages  every  hesitating  and  discouraged  effort 
towards  holiness  and  heaven.  To  the  returning  pro- 
digal, naked  and  starved,  it  speaks  of  his  Father's 
house,  where  there  is  bread  enough  and  to  spare, 
and  of  the  best  robe  to  cover  his  shame.  Over  the 
broken-hearted,  who  has  scarcely  courage  to  say, 
"God  be  merciful  to  me  a  sinner!"  its  language  is, 
"  Be  of  good  cheer,  thy  sins  are  forgiven  thee." 
Over  the  abandoned  and  incorrigible,  it  breathes 
sighs,  and  drops  tears  of  compassion  ;  over  the  peni- 


ITS  SPIRIT  SUPERHUMAN.  77 

tent,  it  utters  its  songs  of  rejoicing.  It  wounds  to 
heal ;  it  kills  only  to  make  alive ;  it  disturbs  the  vain 
hopes  of  the  deceived  only  to  drive  them  from  their 
refuges  of  lies  to  the  Refuge  where  are  security  and 
peace.  When  the  wanderer  is  benighted,  it  sends 
out  its  light  and  truth,  and  leads  him  in  a  plain 
path :  if  he  is  surrounded  by  enemies,  it  sounds  its 
note  of  alarm,  and  spreads  around  him  its  protecting 
shield ;  if  he  slumber,  it  wakes  him  ;  and  if  he  stum- 
bles and  falls,  the  Angel  of  its  Covenant  carries  him 
in  his  arms,  and  the  Shepherd  of  Israel  folds  him  in 
his  bosom.  It  tells  the  tempted  of  a  "  great  High 
Priest,  touched  with  the  feeling  of  their  infirmities  ;" 
to  the  afflicted  it  speaks  of  "  an  exceeding  and  eter- 
nal weight  of  glory,"  wrought  out  by  "  their  light 
afflictions,  which  are  but  for  a  moment ;"  to  the  dy- 
ing, it  speaks  of  an  "  house  not  made  with  hands," 
when  the  "  earthly  house  of  this  tabernacle  is  dis- 
solved ;"  while,  in  view  of  an  assembled  universe 
and  the  last  judgment,  it  reveals  the  sentence  to  all 
who  listen  to  its  counsels,  "  Come,  ye  blessed  of  my 
Father,  inherit  the  kingdom  prepared  for  you  from 
the  foundation  of  the  world!" 

And  is  such  a  spirit  the  spirit  of  imposture  ?  Is 
such  a  Book  the  work  of  man  ? '  Has  it  not  coun- 
sels for  the  wretched  which  the  world  does  not 
know ;  and  when,  for  all  this  world  can  proffer,  every- 
thing around  them  were  a  dreary  waste?  Is  not 
such  a  spirit  a  novel  spirit ;  so  novel  as  never  to  have 
been  known  until  it  was  revealed  from  heaven — so 
novel,  so  unearthly,  that  the  original  model  of  it 


YS  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

finds  no  place  in  the  imaginations  of  men,  and  only 
in  the  counsels  of  heavenly  love  ? 

3.  In  perfect  accordance  with  this  spirit  is  the 
spirit  of  those  institutions  which  this  Book  estab- 
lishes. They  are  all  institutions  of  unearthly  kind- 
*ness.  Where  they  exist  in  their  Scriptural  purity, 
they  express  a  purely  benevolent  design,  and  exert 
an  influence  that  is  purely  benevolent.  The  mes- 
sage ushered  by  its  ministry  is  "peace  on  earth  and 
good  will  to  men;" — "peace,  like  the  dew  of  Her- 
mon,  and  love,  like  the  holy  oil  which  consecrated 
God's  high  priest."  The  world  could  not  live 
without  its  Sabbath ;  yet  benighted  as  it  is,  and 
wearied  and  wasted  by  its  moral  vassalage,  the  light 
and  emancipation  of  such  a  day  of  rest  would  never 
have  entered  into  its  wisest  inventions.  Its  ordi- 
nances are  the  token  of  Heaven's  covenanted  mercy, 
and  the  pledge  of  love  that  is  unearthly;  they 
breathe  the  spirit  of  love — the  fervency  and  strength 
of  love :  the  ardor  of  God's  love  to  man — the  re- 
flected love  of  man  to  God — the  reciprocal  love  of 
man  to  man  !  They  arrest  attention,  and  strike  with 
awe  as  symbols  of  love. 

;  That  visible  community  to  which  the  Bible  has 
given  rise  among  men,  all  eating  the  same  spiritual 
meat,  and  drinking  the  same  spiritual  drink ;  all  pro- 
fessing one  faith,  one  calling,  one  hope; is  no  human 
device.  The  public  and  distinct  association  of  all 
those  who  profess  to  be  governed  by  the  principles 
of  the  Bible,  most  certainly  forms  a  peculiarity  in 
human  history.  There  are  other  associations  among 


ITS   SPIRIT   SUPERHUMAN.  79 

men,  bound  together  by  common  principles  and  pur- 
suing common  objects:  they  are  not  unknown  to 
false  religions ;  but  there  are  none  that  profess  to  be 
governed  by  love  to  God  and  love  to  one  another, 
as  the  essential  basis  of  their  union  and  fellowship. 
However  separated  by  time  and  place,  custom  and 
usage,  so  far  as  they  are  true  to  their  profession,  they 
have  all  been  made  to  "drink  into  the  same  spirit." 
They  have  "  an  unction  from  the  Holy  One,"  the 
fragrance  of  which  is  "as  the  smell  of  a  field  which 
the  Lord  hath  blessed,"  where,  like  flowers  cherished 
by  heaven's  dews  and  sun,  they  immingle  and  in- 
crease their  beauty ;  and  where 

"Lebanon,  with  all  its  trees, 
Yields  not  a  comely  sight  as  these." 

There  is  no  stronger,  and  no  sweeter  bond,  than  that 
which  binds  minds  and  hearts  that  are  thus  governed 
by  the  principles  and  spirit  of  this  holy  Book.  The 
contention  and  strife  of  wicked  nations  and  wicked 
men,  have  no  place  here.  This  heavenly  spirit 
would  soften  the  savage  sternness  of  earth,  eradicate 
its  barbarism  and  ferocity,  and  transform  its  tragic 
scenes  of  wretchedness  and  suffering,  into  scenes  on 
which  the  eye  of  Infinite  love  might  look  down  with 
gratified  and  complacent  smiles.  This  is  the  great 
principle  of  all  Christian  association ;  it  is  one  which 
would  render  the  life  of  man  here  below  "as  the 
days  of  heaven  upon  earth,"  when  the  triumphs  of 
Sove  shall  be  celebrated, 

"  Loud  as  from  numbers  without  number,  sweet 
As  from  blest  voices  uttering  joy." 


80  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

These  institutions  are  all  remarkable  features  of  the 
Bible.  The  very  existence  and  design  of  them  indi- 
cate a  spirit  that  is  superhuman  ;  and,  were  there  no 
other,  would  themselves  alone  be  proof  of  the  divine 
origin  of  Christianity. 

4.  Still  greater  emphasis  will  be  given  to  the  pre- 
ceding considerations  by  the  fact,  that  the  spirit  of 
kindness,  expressed  in  the  Bible,  flows  out  towards  all 
classes  of  the  human  family.  There  are  classes  that 
are  neglected  and  depressed  by  all  false  religions. 

Woman,  under  the  influence  of  every  religion 
in  the  world,  save  that  revealed  in  the  Scriptures, 
instead  of  being  the  loved  and  attached  companion 
of  man — a  helper,  meet  for  his  labors,  trials,  joys, 
and  immortality — is  his  servant,  and  deemed  fitting 
and  worthy  only  to  minister  to  his  wants  and  pas- 
sions. Instead  of  being  entitled  to  that  place  in 
his  affections,  that  honorable  position  in  society 
which  belongs  to  her,  she  is  the  dishonored  por- 
tion of  the  race.  Instead  of  being  its  ornament 
and  crown,  and  designed  by  her  beauty,  loveli- 
ness, weakness,  and  shrinking  delicacy,  to  influence, 
charm,  soften,  purify,  and  elevate  the  stronger  and 
coarser  sex,  she  is  excluded  from  this  honorable 
and  elevating  intercourse, and  made  the  corrupter  of 
human  society.  In  lands  not  a  few,  she  forms  no 
constituent  part  of  the  domestic  circle ;  she  is  even 
denied  her  immortality ;  her  birth  is  bewailed  as  a 
misfortune,  and  her  death  hailed  with  rejoicing ; 
and  if  she  is  allowed  to  survive  her  minority,  it  is  to 
immolate  herself  on  the  funeral  pile  of  her  husband, 


ITS  SPIRIT  SUPERHUMAN.  81 

or  become  the  universal  scorn  even  of  her  own  chil- 
dren. I  need  not  dwell  on  the  fact,  that  this  is  no 
part  of  the  spirit  of  the  Bible. 

It  is  a  remarkable  feature  of  the  Bible  also,  that 
it  has  peculiar  respect  to  little  children  and  the  ris- 
ing generation.  Both  under  the  Old  and  New  Tes- 
taments, its  great  designs  of  mercy  are  carried  into 
effect,  by  its  effective  solicitude  and  tenderness  to- 
wards the  young.  It  is  out  of  the  mouth  of  babes 
and  sucklings,  that  its  Author  would  perfect  praise. 
Next  to  the  garden  and  the  cross,  there  is  not  a 
more  affecting  or  characteristic  symbol  of  Chris- 
tianity, than  the  scene  where  the  Saviour  took  little 
children  in  his  arms  and  blessed  them.  How  dif- 
ferent is  this  from  the  brutal  negligence,  and  horrid 
rites,  and  practised  infanticide  of  paganism  !  "  Suf- 
fer the  little  children  to  come  unto  me,  and  forbid 
them  not,  for  of  such  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven!" 
Did  the  voice  of  earth  ever  utter  a  sentence  like  this  ? 
and  is  it  not  a  proof  of  Heaven's  own  tenderness  ? 

We  might  expatiate  largely  also,  on  the  benign 
influence  of  the  Bible  upon  that  class  of  men  who  by 
crime,  or  war,  or  cupidity, 'become  the  slaves  of  their 
fellow  men.  The  slavery  of  the  Bible,  in  its  worst, 
form,  is  a  very  different  thing  from  the  slavery  of  pa- 
gan and  anti-Christian  lands.  It  can  scarcely  deserve 
to  be  called  slavery ;  nor  is  there  any  doubt,  that  in 
the  same  measure  in  which  the  principles  and  spirit 
of  the  Bible  are  imbibed,  the  yoke  of  human  bondage 
will  melt  away,  and  every  form  of  human  oppression 
cease.  "  There  is  no  respect  of  persons  with  God." 

Bible  not  of  Man.  # 


82  THE   BIBLE  NOT  OF   MAN. 

This  Book  is  throughout  the  friend  of  the  poor. 
In  this  particular,  there  is  a  marked  difference  be- 
tween the  Bible  and  all  other  systems  of  religious 
faith  and  duty.  Plato  makes  the  strange  remark, 
that  "it  is  impossible  to  make  God  known  to  all." 
"All  pure  and  spiritual  religion,"  says  Neander, 
"was  considered  as  the  peculiar  possession  of  a 
small  number;  it  seemed  impossible  to  communi- 
cate this  knowledge  to  the  lower  classes."  False 
religions  impoverish  the  poor  by  their  severe  exac- 
tions. One  of  the  great  causes  of  poverty  and  suf- 
fering in  the  mass  of  the  community  in  pagan  lands, 
is  the  intolerable  burden  of  their  religious  systems  ; 
while  it  is  not  less  true  that  the  poverty  and  dis- 
tress of  the  lower  classes  under  our  own  observation, 
are  to  be  attributed,  in  no  small  degree,  to  the  vast 
amount  of  property  wrung  from  them  by  a  corrupted 
and  false  religion.  Nor  is  this  all.  The  poor,  the 
sick,  the  aged,  are  they  whose  blood  stains  the  altars 
of  false  religions,  and  who  are  ordinarily  selected  as 
the  sacrifices  to  idol  gods.  How  different  is  all  this 
from  the  spirit  of  that  Book  which  teaches  us,  that 
"  the  rich  and  the  poor  meet  together,  and  the  Lord 
is  the  Maker  of  them  all ;"  that  he  is  "a strength  to 
the  poor,  a  strength  to  the  needy  in  his  distress;" 
that  he  "  vindicates  the  poor  of  the  people,  and  saves 
the  children  of  the  needy ;"  that  "  to  the  poor  the 
Gospel  is  preached,"  and  that  "  God  hath  chosen  the 
poor  of  this  world  to  be  rich  in  faith,  and  heirs  of 
the  kingdom  which  he  hath  promised."  The  spirit 
of  the  Bible  is  in  this,  particular  of  high  origin ;  it 


ITS  SPIRIT  SUPERHUMAN.  83 

was  born  in  heaven  and  trained  to  deeds  of  mercy. 
It  has  counsels  for  the  throne — for  the  prison  it  has 
consolation.  "  I  was  sick,  and  ye  visited  me  ;  I  was 
in  prison,  and  ye  came  unto  me."  It  has  admoni- 
tions for  the  rich — for  the  poor  glad  tidings.  "It  is 
one  of  the  prime  and  distinguishing  features  of  the 
character  of  the  Deity,  as  revealed  to  us  in  S capture, 
that  the  poor  man,  just  as  well  as  the  r^h  man,  is 
the  object  of  his  watchfulness :  tb-*£  he  bows  his 
ear  to  the  cry  of  the  meanest  o««-cast ;  so  that  there 
is  not  a  smile  upon  a  poor  pian's  cheek,  and  there  is 
not  a  tear  in  a  poor  man'-s  eye,  which  passes  any  more 
unheeded  by  our  G^d,  than  if  the  individual  were  a 
monarch  on  hi»  throne,  and  thousands  crouched  in 
vassalage  before  him."*  The  condition  of  the  poor 
in  lands  that  are  Christian,  compared  with  other 
lands,  speaks  volumes  for  the  Bible.  The  ten  thou- 
sand acts  of  private  munificence,  as  well  as  more 
public  bounty  in  the  forms  of  legal  enactment,  and 
the  various  eleemosynary  institutions  unknown  to 
the  world  where  the  Bible  is  unknown,  are  no  doubt- 
ful proof  of  the  benevolence  of  its  spirit.  This 
blessed  Book  has  no  characteristic  more  obvious  than 
sympathy  for  the  oppressed  and  suffering  classes  of 
human  society.  It  is  like  a  bright  sun,  when  he 
breaks  through  the  cloud  and  falls  upon  the  lowly 
vale ;  it  is  God's  light,  cheering  those  who  "  dwell 
in  darkness  and  unseen." 

5.  Another  consideration  by  which  the  unearthly 

*  Melvill. 


g4  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

spirit  of  the  Bible  is  illustrated,  is  derived  from  the 
great  end  and  motive  which  it  reveals  as  the  su- 
preme and  governing-  principle  of  the  Divine  con- 
duct.    This  Book  discloses  what  no  human  philos- 
ophy ever  thought  of,  and  no  systems  of  paganism 
have  ever  revealed — the  ultimate  end  of  the  Deity 
in  the  <ereation  and  government  of  this  lower  world. 
It  instructs  us  that  God  "  made  all  things  for  him- 
self;" that  "  f 01  his  pleasure  they  exist,  and  were  cre- 
ated ;"  that  "  of  hlxt,  and  to  him,  and  through  him 
are  all  things,  to  whoiube  glory  for  ever."     It  in- 
structs us,  that  by  all  his  "Works,  he  illustrates  and 
manifests  the  inherent  and  unhanging  perfection 
of  his  own  glorious  nature. 

And  what  are  these  perfections  ?  "  God  is  light ;" 
"  God  is  love  :"  his  infinite  wisdom  and  goodness  are 
those  moral  properties  of  his  nature  which  he  de- 
signs thus  to  unfold.  There  was  no  motive,  no  in- 
citement from  without ;  the  irresistible  impulse  was 
all  from  within  his  own  wise  and  benevolent  mind. 
He  could  not  but  express  and  gratify  his  own  wis- 
dom and  goodness  ;  this  was  the  consideration  which 
moved  him  to  create,  to  govern,  to  redeem.  This,  to 
some  minds,  may  appear  an  abstract  and  metaphys- 
ical truth ;  but  it  is  a  great  and  glorious  truth,  a 
most  precious  and  lovely  truth ;  one  which  the  Bible 
only  reveals,  and  one  in  which  we  discover  the  true 
spirit  of  the  book  itself.  As  a  dogma  merely,  it  has 
a  cold  and  abstract  form  ;  but  it  is  inwoven  and  min- 
gled with  the  genial  warmth  of  love.  It  is  not  a 
frigid  abstraction,  but  living,  breathing  kindness. 


ITS  SPIRIT  SUPERHUMAN.  35 

It  is  the  theory  of  love,  and  a  sure  pledge  for  the 
actings  of  love.     It  is  not  a  beautiful  moonlight 
scene,  but  the  sun  of  summer,  filling  all  the  regions 
of  the  earth,  coming  upon  us  with  its  balmy  air,  and 
enkindling  within  our  bosoms  deep-felt  gratitude. 
What  shall  we  say  of  the  spirit  of  that  Book  which 
brings  the  blessed  truth  home  to  the  business  and 
bosoms  of  men,  that   all    that  God  does  is  under 
the  invariable  impulse  to  what  is  wisest  and  best ; 
which  speaks  of  love  under  the  control  of  intelli- 
gence,   and   intelligence    controlled   by  love — love 
that  is  all  emotion  and  tenderness,  all  that  is  fond 
and  paternal — that  has  not  one  chilling,  or  cheer- 
less aspect,  and  no  counterpart  in  the  inventions  of 
men  ?     The  infidel  sees  difficulties  in  the  govern- 
ment of  the  Most  High,  and  sees  them  everywhere — 
difficulties  which,  as  a  moral  and  sensitive  being, 
fill  him  with  perplexity  and  darkness.     Events  have 
taken  place,  are  taking  place  now,  and  will  here- 
after take  place,  that  are  evil ;  but  the  Bible  teaches 
us,  that  there  is  a  benevolent  design  in  the  darkest 
dispensations ;  and  that  they  present  the  deep  back- 
ground of  that  great  moral  landscape,  which  brings 
out  the  strongest  outlines  of  the  Divine  wisdom  and 
goodness.     What  is  difficult  to  ais,  is  easy  to  God ; 
what  to  us  is  doubtful,  to  him  is  ascertained ;  what 
to  our  view  is  full  of  perplexity,  we  are  assured  is 
directed  to  what  is  best.     The  Bible  is  not  silent 
upon  such  topics  as  these ;  it  sees  these  evils ;  it 
weighs  them,  feels  them,  discloses  them,  and  that  it 
may  provide  a  remedy  for  them. 


86  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

It  is  a  strong  mark  of  divine  teaching,  to  be 
told,  that  everything  that  God  does  is  under  the 
impulse  of  goodness — goodness  as  extensive  as  cre- 
ation, as  constant  as  time,  as  enduring  as  eternity. 
Such  are  the  teachings,  and  such  the  spirit  of  the 
sacred  volume.  Such  is  the  relief  it  affords  to  mill- 
ions of  minds,  otherwise  shrouded  in  gloom.  It 
pours  light  upon  the  darkest  pages  of  this  world's 
history,  and  makes  the  interminable  future  lumi- 
nous. Nor  are  there  any  such  benevolent  teachings, 
except  from  the  God  of  love. 

6.  Let  us,  as  the  crowning  thought  of  the  whole, 
dwell  a  few  moments  on  the  spirit  of  this  Book  as 
expressed  in  its  own  wondrous  method  of  redeeming 
mercy.  That  it  is  above  the  invention  of  the  human 
intellect,  we  haipe  seen ;  equally  is  the  spirit  which 
dictated  it  above  the  well-known  spirit  of  man.  The 
more  just  indeed  are  our  conceptions  of  the  good- 
ness which  gave  it  birth,  the  deeper  are  our  convic- 
tions that  it  is  immeasurably  above  our  reach.  No 
man  ever  seriously  addressed  himself  to  the  effort 
of  making  a  due  estimate  of  the  love  which  origi- 
nated this  mysterious  arrangement,  without  the  im- 
pression, the  strong  inward  feeling,  that  it  is  infinitely 
beyond  the  reach  of  his  moral,  as  well  as  his  intel- 
lectual powers.  It  requires  love  to  perceive  love  : 
we  have  not  love  enough  in  our  own  bosoms,  to 
perceive  this  amazing  love  of  God.  The  true  spirit 
of  the  Bible  is  not  in  its  rightful  and  unbending  au- 
thority merely,  replete  as  this  authority  is  with  the 
goodness  and  majesty  of  its  Divine  Author ;  nor  is 


ITS  SPIRIT  SUPERHUMAN.  87 

it  merely  in  those  rich  and  embodied  truths,  those 
moral  considerations,  drawn  from  so  many  sources, 
and  which  none  but  the  heart  of  Infinite  love 
could  suggest :  it  is  in  the  revelation  it  makes  of  the 
love  of  its  Atoning,  Redeeming  Saviour.  They  are 
"  thoughts  that  breathe,  and  words  that  burn,"  which 
make  this  disclosure  ;  but  they  are  words  of  peace  to 
the  guilty ;  counsels  of  peace,  thoughts  of  love, 
overflowings  of  heavenly  solicitude  and  compassion, 
which  sought  a  channel  at  the  greatest  sacrifice,  and 
one  which  "  none  of  the  princes  of  this  world  knew." 
It  was  to  subdue  to  the  spirit  of  the  Bible,  and 
wash  their  sins  away,  and  adopt  into  the  family  of 
heaven  those  whose  wickedness  had  made  them 
outcasts,  and  who  were  fit  only  for  the  abodes  of 
infamy  and  shame,  that  the  God  of  the  universe 
consecrated  his  Son — his  only  and  equal  Son,  on  the 
altar  of  Justice ;  "  gave  him  up,"  abandoned  him 
to  sorrows  that  rent  the  heavens  with  an  exceeding 
great  and  bitter  cry  ;  to  agony  with  which  the  graves, 
the  rocks,  the  sun,  the  whole  material  world  sympa- 
thized. And  all  for  man  that  is  a  worm ! 

"  O  more  exceeding  love,  or  law  more  just — 
Just  law  indeed,  but  more  exceeding  love !" 

"  God  so  loved  the  world,  that  he  gave  his  only 
begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  believe th  in  him 
should  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting  life !" 
Dwell  on  this  thought,  and  tell  me  whence  it  came  ? 
Does  it  fall  on  the  ear  as  the  voice  of  man  ?  Has 
not  every  heart,  that  is  not  bereft  of  the  last  vestige 


88  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

of  filial  affection,  the  irresistible  consciousness  that 
it  is  the  voice  of  his  "  Father  who  is  in  heaven  ?" 
O,  if  it  were  for  nothing  else  than  the  revelation 
the  Bible  makes  of  that  "  mighty  movement  made 
in  heaven  "  when  men  were  lost,  this  alone  were 
enough  to  rescue  it  from  the  imputation  of  being 
the  device  of  a  vile  impostor !  There  is  an  ampli- 
tude of  goodness  here,  which  is  literally  immeasur- 
able ;  a  self-denial  of  goodness,  which  never  can  be 
recompensed ;  a  purity  of  goodness,  which  nothing 
can  impeach ;  a  constancy  and  watchfulness  of 
goodness,  that  are  never  wearied,  and  that  never 
slumber.  Time  does  not  weaken  such  love  as  this  ; 
distance  does  not  change  it ;  unkindness,  ingratitude, 
and  abuse  do  not  exhaust  it ;  nor  is  it  exhausted  by 
poverty,  disease,  crime,  and  death.  It  never  shuts 
up  the  bowels  of  its  compassion.  It  has  a  strength 
that  surmounts  the  greatest  obstacles ;  a  height,  and 
depth,  and  length,  of  which  those  who  know  most 
of  it  can  only  say  that  "  it  passeth  knowledge."  Was 
it  ever  known  that  an  impostor  put  on  such  robes 
of  love ;  or  was  any  creature  ever  thus  clad  in  the 
brightest  adornment  of  the  Deity  ? 

Such  is  the  spirit  of  the  Bible ;  such  is  its  love, 
its  amazing,  unsearchable  love,  in  more  respects 
than  those  of  which  the  preceding  induction  of  par- 
ticulars is  but  a- very  partial  expression.  Love  and 
mercy,  the  infinite  love  and  mercy  of  the  Infinite 
One,  constitute  its  great  and  glowing  themes  from 
beginning  to  end ;  themes  never  lost  sight  of,  never 


ITS  SPIRIT  SUPERHUMAN.  89 

obscured,  never  losing  their  ascendancy.  Such  a 
production  was  never  the  production  of  man :  it  is 
more  than  the  human  mind  can  conceive,  that  such 
a  book  should  have  its  origin  in  this  low  earth.  It 
is  not  th»  spirit  of  man,  which  this  Book  discloses  ; 
it  is  a  spirit  which  belongs  not  to  man's  nature. 
Never  has  the  universe  seen,  nor  will  it  ever  see  so 
heavenly  a  spirit,  save  in  these  annals  of  heavenly 
mercy.  No  other  book  is  imbued  with  such  a  spirit, 
because  this  alone  is  the  Book  of  God.  O,  how  un- 
like all  other  books  is  the  sweet  spirit  of  the  Bible  ! 

Let  a  man  retire  from  the  world  with  the  Bible 
in  his  hand,  and,  even  though  the  enemy  of  this 
wondrous  Book,  he  must  feel  as  though  he  were  in 
another  atmosphere  than  the  atmosphere  of  earth. 
Nor  can  even  such  a  man  fail  to  contrast  the  heav- 
enly fragrance  of  its  spirit,  with  the  nauseous  fumes 
that  come  up  from  his  own  agitated  and  effervescing 
bosom ;  and  if  he  is  its  friend,  he  feels  as  if  he  were 
fanned  by  the  zephyrs  of  heaven,  and  encircled  by 
its  balmy  breezes.  Let  us  suppose  an  intelligent 
and  well-instructed  pagan,  but  lately  emerged  from 
the  darkness  of  paganism,  and  brought  to  an  ac- 
quaintance with  the  Bible,  and  to  feel  its  power. 
It  were  difficult  for  us  to  conceive  the  impressions 
made  upon  such  a  mind,  by  the  beauty  and  excel- 
lence of  the  spirit  which  this  Book  expresses.  Con- 
trasted with  the  spirit  of  paganism,  it  would  seem 
to  him  like  the  balmy  air  and  flushing  verdure  of 
spring  after  the  dreary  chills  of  a  long  winter.  His 
dreaming  anticipations  of  his  own  Elysium,  would 


90  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

be  more  than  realized  in  that  wondrous  system  of 
truth  and  love ;  that  tender  regard  for  men,  in  all 
the  various  stages  of  their  moral  history ;  that  uni- 
form and  benignant  tendency  of  its  high-born  insti- 
tutions ;  that  impartial  goodness  to  classes  of  men 
which  paganism  overlooks  and  despises  ;  that  su- 
preme and  governing  end  of  all  the  Divine  con- 
duct ;  and  that  method  of  redeeming  mercy,  the 
design  and  object  of  which  are  to  extricate  men 
from  darkness,  by  bringing  them  to  the  light  of  life  ; 
to  deliver  them  from  bondage,  by  rescuing  them 
from  guilt ;  to  make  them  happy,  by  making  them 
good.  Such  a  man  would  almost  involuntarily 
exclaim,  This  is  truly  a  most  wonderful  book  ;  there 
is  nothing  like  it  in  the  counsels  of  earthly  wisdom  : 
it  cannot  be  the  work  of  an  impostor  ! 

And  such  are  our  own  conclusions.  There  are 
associations  of  thought  and  feeling  here,  not  only 
from  which  the  dark  and  subtil  mind  of  an  impostor 
is  widely  and  forever  alienated,  but  which  it  is  as 
irrational  to  trace  to  any  other  than  a  divine  source, 
as  it  would  be  to  attribute  the  Pilgrim's  Progress  to 
such  a  man  as  Thomas  Paine.  To  a  mind  at  all 
imbued  with  the  spirit  of  the  Bible,  its  divine  ori- 
gin is  a  thing  of  instant  conviction,  as  if  seen  in 
the  light  of  its  own  evidence,  rather  than  a  thing 
of  lengthened  and  laborious  proof.  God  has  so 
ordained  our  mental  constitution,  that  if  the  mind 
be  not,  to  a  lamentable  degree,  disordered  and  per- 
verted by  wickedness,  we  cannot  but  see  that  this 
lovely  production  is  his  own  work.  Like  the 


ITS  SPIRIT  SUPERHUMAN.  91 

manna  miraculously  rained  down  in  the  Arabian 
desert,  we  need  only  inspect  it  in  order  to  see  that 
it  is  the  "  bread  of  heaven,  which  giveth  life  to  the 
world."  No  more  than  a  child  can  mistake  the 
letter  of  love  from  the  well-known  hand  of  his 
earthly  parent,  can  we  mistake  the  celestial  origin 
of  these  epistles  of  heavenly  rnercy.  No  more  than 
a  son  can  mistake  his  father's  last  will  and  testa- 
ment, can  we  mistake  this  last  Will  and  Testament 
of  Him  "  who  liveth  and  was  dead,  and  is  alive  for 
evermore."  Never  could  it  have  been  written  by  any 
other  hand.  It  is  Godlike  throughout,  and  breathes 
his  lovely  and  blessed  spirit.  It  has  no  origin,  save 
in  those  eternal  counsels  of  love  which  devised  it ;  no 
resemblance,  save  where  its  own  superhuman  spirit 
is  inscribed,-  no  fulfilment,  save  in  that  heaven  to 
which  it  tends.  It  presents  a  distinct  exhibition  of 
God  himself.  It  is  the  mighty  conception  of  his  love. 
It  stands  alone  in  the  world.  It  is  God's  Bible. 


-"  Hast  thou  ever  heard 


Of  such  a  book  ?    The  author,  God  himself ; 

The  subject,  God  and  man,  salvation,  life 

And  death — eternal  life,  eternal  death — 

Dread  words  !  whose  meaning  has  no  end,  no  bounds. 

Most  wondrous  book !  bright  candle  of  the  Lord ! 

Star  of  eternity !  the  only  star 

By  which  the  bark  of  man  could  navigate 

The  sea  of  life,  and  gain  the  coast  of  bliss 

Securely !  only  star  which  rose  on  tune, 

And  on  its  dark  and  troubled  billows,  stole, 

As  generation,  drifting  swiftly  by, 

Succeeded  generation,  thence  a  ray 

Of  heaven's  own  light,  and  to  the  hills  of  God, 


92  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

Th'  eternal  hills,  pointed  the  sinner's  eye. 
This  book,  this  holy  book,  in  every  line 
Marked  with  the  seal  of  high  divinity, 
On  every  leaf  bedewed  with  drops  of  love 
Divine,  and  with  th'  eternal  heraldry 
And  signature  of  God  Almighty  stamped 
From  first  to  last — this  ray  of  sacred  light, 
This  lamp  from  off  the  everlasting  throne, 
Mercy  took  down,  and  in  the  night  of  time 
Stood,  casting  on  the  dark  her  gracious  bow, 
And  evermore  beseeching  men,  with  tears 
And  earnest  sighs,  to  hear,  believe,  and  live. 
And  many  to  her  voice  gave  ear  and  read, 
Believed,  obeyed :  and  now,  as  the  Amen, 
True,  faithful  Witness  swore,  with  snowy  robes 
And  branching  palms  surround  the  fount  of  life, 
And  drink  the  streams  of  immortality, 
Forever  happy,  and  forever  young." 

If  the  intelligence  of  this  Book  should  fail  to 
convince  the  reader,  let  its  love  persuade  him.  It  is 
a  kind  volume,  fitted  to  disarm  prejudice,  and  sub- 
due hostility.  There  are  dark  jealousies  and  most 
unworthy  suspicions  of  it  in  the  world.  Men  do 
injustice  to  it,  because  guilt  is  always  suspicious ; 
nor  do  their  suspicions  always  go  at  their  bidding. 
You  love  the  man  who  throws  around  him  an 
atmosphere  of  kindness.  The  Bible  itself  is  such 
an  atmosphere,  without  any  mixture  of  impurity. 
It  lives  only  to  bless  the  world.  And  when  its 
work  of  touching  tenderness,  diffusive,  attractive 
blessedness  is  accomplished,  it  will  return  to  Him 
who  gave  it,  to  impart  new  blessings,  and  shed  new 
lustre  on  the  heaven  whence  it  came. 


ITS  MORAL  RECTITUDE.  93 


CHAPTER   III, 

THE  MORAL  RECTITUDE  OF  THE  BIBLE. 

IN  adverting  to  the  spirit  of  the  Scriptures,  1 
have  not  designed  to  call  the  reader's  attention  so 
much  to  their  moral  rectitude,  as  to  their  unearthly 
kindness.  Benevolence  is  good  will ;  moral  recti- 
tude is  conformity  to  what  is  right.  The  spirit  of 
the  Bible  consults  the  happiness  of  men ;  its  moral 
rectitude,  their  character.  Moral  rectitude,  though 
productive  of  happiness,  is  a  distinct  thing  from  hap- 
piness ;  just  as  wickedness,  though  productive  of 
misery,  is  a  distinct  thing  from  misery.  The  one 
is  the  effect ;  the  other,  the  cause.  Moral  recti- 
tude is  perceived  by  conscience ;  happiness,  by  con- 
sciousness. Moral  rectitude  is  the  proper  subject  of 
command,  and  must  always  be  required ;  happiness 
may  not  be.  Moral  rectitude  has  moral  qualities  ; 
happiness  may  not  have.  The  moral  rectitude  of 
the  Scriptures,  therefore,  in  distinction  from  their 
superhuman  kindness,  furnishes  a  fair,  and  as  I  shall 
endeavor  to  show,  a  good  ground  of  argument,  that 
they  are  neither  the  work  of  an  impostor,  nor  of  any 
human  device. 

It  is  inseparable  from  all  just  conceptions  of  God, 
that  it  is  impossible  for  him  to  do  wrong.  He  is  the 


94  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

source  of  all  moral  rectitude  in  the  universe,  and 
everywhere  its  supporter  and  patron.  He  is  holy, 
and  his  holiness  is  infinite.  He  is  the  Holy  One, 
and  the  only  one  who,  by  excellence,  can  challenge 
to  himself  the  name  of  Holy.  Holiness  is  an  essen- 
tial perfection  of  his  nature ;  it  is  full  and  perfect, 
without  blemish,  and  without  diminution  or  change. 
A  book  of  which  he  is  'the  Author  must  be  a  holy 
book,  and  must,  necessarily,  express  his  irreconcil- 
able aversion  to  all  that  is  wrong. 

We  cannot  say  this  of  man,  nor  of  any  book  of 
which  he  is  the  author.  We  know  what  the  char- 
acter of  man  is.  It  is  a  humiliating  confession,  that 
we  cannot  give  human  nature  credit  for  any  great 
degree  of  moral  virtue.  There  are  not  only  great 
and  obvious  defections  from  moral  integrity  in  every 
individual  of  our  race,  without  exception  ;  but  wick- 
edness prevails  to  a  degree  sufficient  to  convince 
us,  that  the  great  principles  of  moral  order  in  this 
world  are  all  subverted.  Wickedness  exists  in  every 
form  :  wickedness  in  principle,  and  wickedness  in 
practice ;  wickedness  in  heart  and  life ;  wickedness 
in  every  variety  and  measure.  Degraded  and  degrad- 
ing wickedness,  and  wickedness  that  is  polished  and 
honored ;  wickedness  in  the  solitude  of  the  closet, 
and  in  the  retirements  of  the  domestic  relations ; 
wickedness  in  nations  and  in  the  world ;  wickedness 
in  human  laws  and  governments;  institutions  and 
customs  that  are  wicked ;  a  wicked  press,  and  a 
wicked  literature ;  and  withal,  religions  in  abun- 
dance that  are  wicked,  form  the  leading  and  promi- 


ITS  MORAL  RECTITUDE.  95 

nent  features  in  the  history  of  our  race.  There  are 
strong  propensities  in  men  to  that  which  is  evil. 
The  paths  of  licensed  and  ungoverned.  wickedness 
are  pleasant  to  them ;  while  the  paths  of  virtue, 
truth,  purity,  honesty  and  honor,  are  uninviting  to 
their  depraved  taste,  and  rugged  and  difficult. 

These  views  of  the  human  character  have  re- 
ceived the  sanction  of  paganism  itself,  and  are  abun- 
dantly verified  by  the  writings  of  its  poets,  philoso- 
phers, and  historians.  Not  a  few  among  infidels 
themselves  do  not  dispute  them.  There  is  no  doubt 
in  this  matter.  There  is  but  this  one  view  that  can 
be  given  of  the  character  of  man.  Were  the  ques- 
tion asked,  What  are  those  persons  most  familiar 
with,  and  what  reminiscences  most  haunt  their  im- 
aginations, who  are  most  versed  in  the  history  of 
our  world  ?  The  one  answer  must  be,  that  they, 
of  all  men,  know  most  of  human  wickedness. 
Save  a  few  bright  spots,  tike  the  oases  in  the  desert, 
the  pilgrimage  of  the  historian  is  through  regions 
denied  by  crime,  polluted  by  idolatry  and  blood, 
agitated  by  ambition  and  revenge,  desolated  by  cru- 
elty and  despotism,  bearing  the  marks  of  violence 
and  wrong,  and  everyAvhere  presenting  scenes  of 
misery  and  horror,  which  furnish  overwhelming 
proof  of  deep-seated  wickedness  in  the  heart  of  man, 
and  in  all  the  elements  of  his  social  organization. 

Now  the  simple  question  we  propose  for  consid- 
eration is,  Whether  such  a  book  as  the  Bible  was 
the  production  of  the  human  mind ;  and  whether  it 
is  a  possible  thing  that  a  being,  as  degraded  and 


96  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

morally  depraved  as  we  know  man  to  be,  unless 
inspired  by  the  God  of  spotless  rectitude,  could  have 
been  its  author  ? 

In  determining  this  question,  it  is  necessary  that 
we  inspect  the  moral  rectitude  of  the  Book  itself. 
Men  may  inspect  detached  portions  of  it,  and  please 
themselves  with  some  things,  which,  at  first  view, 
have  the  semblance  of  conniving  at  what  is  wrong. 
But  let  them  read  it ;  let  them  read  the  whole  of  it ; 
let  them  carry  along  in  their  minds  the  character  of 
the  persons  to  which  the  different  portions  of  it  were 
addressed  j  the  age  of  the  world,  and  the  circum- 
stances under  which  the  different  parts  of  it  were 
written,  and  the  particular  objects  which  even  those 
portions  of  it  have  in  view,  which  to  an  infidel 
mind  appear  the  most  exceptionable  ;  and  they  may 
be  rationally  convinced  that,  instead  of  originating  in 
the  bosom  of  an  impostor,  it  owes  its  origin  to  men 
who  wrote  "as  they  were  moved  by  the  Holy 
Ghost."  Let  them  scrutinize  it  with  as  much 
severity  as  they  please ;  only  let  their  scrutiny  be 
well  informed,  wisely  directed,  and  with  a  fair  and 
ingenuous  mind,  and  we  have  no  fears  for  the  issue. 
There  are  portions  of  it  on  which  ignorance  and  folly 
have  put  constructions  that  are  forced  and  unnatural, 
and  which  impure  minds  have  viewed  in  shadows 
reflected  from  their  own  impurity.  Montesquieu 
said  of  Voltaire,  Lorsque  Voltaire  lit  un  livre,  il  le 
fa^t,  puis  il  ecrit  centre  ce  qu'il  a  fait :  "  When 
Voltaire  reads  a  book,  he  makes  it  what  he  pleases, 
and  then  writes  against  what  he  has  made."  It  is 


ITS  MORAL  RECTITUDE.  97 

no  difficult  matter  to  besmear  and  blot  its  pages,  and 
then  impute  the  foul  stains  that  men  of  corrupt  minds 
have  cast  upon  it,  to  its  stainless  Author.  But  if  we 
honestly  look  at  it  as  it  is,  we  shall  find  that,  like 
its  Author,  it  is  without  blemish  and  without  spot. 

1.  Among  the  characteristics  of  the  Bible  which 
are  somewhat  remarkable  expressions  of  moral  recti- 
tude, the  first  that  we  notice  is,  the  truth  and  just- 
ness of  its  moral  distinctions.  Pagan  lands  have 
never  known  in  what  moral  rectitude  consists,  nor 
have  pagan  writers  ever  described  it.  Nothing  can 
be  found  in  their  works  to  induce  the  belief  that  any 
true  knowledge  of  it  has  ever  sprung  up  as  an  indi- 
genous plant  upon  the  soil  of  unenlightened  reason, 
or  natural  conscience. 

The  peripatetic  philosophy,  or  the  philosophy  of 
Aristotle,  described  moral  rectitude  as  consisting  in 
the  mean  between  two  extremes ;  a  definition,  than 
which  nothing  is  more  undefinable.  The  stoical 
system,  or  the  system  of  Zeno,  describes  it  as  living 
according  to  nature :  alas,  for  the  rectitude  that  con- 
sists in  such  a  life  !  The  system  of  Epicurus,  in  its 
best  estate,  described  it  as  living  as  free  as  possible 
from  the  evils  incident  to  life,  and  in  the  enjoy- 
ment of  as  large  a  measure  as  possible  of  its  happi- 
ness ;  while  in  its  subsequent  corruptions,  it  is  a 
system  of  mere  animal  pleasure  and  unrestrained 
sensuality.  Human  reason,  untaught  of  God,  has 
never  been  able  to  discover,  to  any  such  extent  as  is 
available  for  practical  purposes,  the  difference  be- 
tween what  is  right  and  what  is  wrong.  There  is 

Biblo  not  of  Man.  5 


98  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

no  doubt  that,  to  some  extent,  the  natural  universe 
recognizes  this  distinction,  while  no  well-informed 
person  will  deny  that  there  are  both  graces  and  sins, 
virtues  and  vices,  which  the  language  of  paganism 
has  not  words  to  express. 

The  history  of  the  world  does  not  furnish  ex- 
amples of  more  manly  thought,  nor  of  greater  saga- 
city and  shrewdness,  nor  more  wonderful  powers  of 
discrimination,  than  are  found  in  the  writings  of  pa- 
gan philosophers ;  yet  on  mdral  subjects  their  notions 
were  not  only  vague  and  obscure,  but  in  many  in- 
stances absolutely  puerile  and  foolish.  They  spoke 
of  conduct  as  sacred,  of  which  the  Bible  speaks  as 
infamous ;  they  treated  as  religious  and  honorable, 
what  the  Bible  treats  as  debasing  and  flagitious.  To 
such  an  extent,  and  so  boldly,  did  they  "  put  dark- 
ness for  light,  and  light  for  darkness,  good  for  evil, 
and  evil  for  good,"  that  their  very  religion  required 
them  to  be  immoral. 

All  their  religious  teachers  did  not  indeed  incul- 
cate the  same  doctrines ;  what  one  condemned  as  a 
vice,  another,  equally  profound,  inculcated  as  a  virtue. 
Nor  were  their  teachings  consistent  and  uniform ; 
the  same  writers,  and  the  same  legislation  that  some- 
times discountenanced  wickedness,  at  others  embol- 
dened the  perpetration  of  it.  The  reason  why  there 
are  no  accurate  delineations  of  moral  rectitude  in 
heathen  writers  is,  they  had  no  divine  teaching,  and 
therefore  no  discernment  of  it.  Right  and  wrong 
with  them  were  arbitrary  distinctions,  and  depend- 
ed for  the  most  part  upon  custom,  upon  the  an- 


ITS   MORAL  RECTITUDE.  99 

thority  of  human  laws,  and  upon  the  opinions  of 
men.     This  is  the  ground  on  which  Hobbes  and 
other  infidel  writers  rest  all  their  moral  distinctions. 
The  history  of  pagan  philosophy  is  interesting,  be- 
cause it  is  mournfully  instructive  as  a  history  of  the 
errors  of  the  human  mind,  and  as  a  practical  proof  of 
that  excessive  degradation  to  which  the  most  refined 
and  cultivated  intellect  is  reduced,  when  destitute  of 
Divine  guidance.    If  we  except  those  writings  which 
derive  their  instructions  from  the   Bible,   there  is 
but  this  one  book  that  lays  the  foundation  of  moral 
obligation  in  the  nature  of  the  Deity,  and  in  the 
nature    and   relations   which  men  sustain   towards 
him  and  one  another,  as  he  has  revealed  them.     In 
the  sparklings  of  pagan  poetry,  there  are  occasional 
scintillations  of  moral  sentiment  that  are  just  and 
exalted ;  and  so  there  are  in  the  more  sober  discus- 
sions of  such  a  writer  as  the  great  heathen  moralist, 
Seneca.    But  they  are  too  varying  and  contradictory  ; 
they  affirm  and  deny  almost  in  the  same  paragraph  ; 
while  the  most  unexceptionable,  both  of  their  poets 
arid  philosophers,  are  the  teachers  of  flagrant  wick- 
edness.    It  is  not  so  with  the  Bible.     At  a  great  re- 
move from  the  ethics  of  the  whole  pagan  and  infidel 
world,  the  rectitude  it  describes  is  no  scintillation  of 
poetry,    nor  is  it  any  sudden  outbreaking  of  con- 
science ;  it  is  not  brought  out  occasionally,  and  for 
effect,    but  is  inwoven  with  all  its  revelations,  and 
is  the  uniform  characteristic  of  the  book  itself.     In- 
stead of  being  influenced  by  the  opinions  of  men, 
and  controlled  by  their  example,  customs,  and  laws, 


100  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF   MAN. 

its  aim  is  to  influence  and  control  men  themselves. 
Instead  of  inculcating  a  rectitude  that  is  based  on 
the  principles  of  expediency,  and  urging  the  claims 
of  godliness  as  a  profitable  speculation,  and  sacrific- 
ing the  interests  of  moral  rectitude  to  any  other  in- 
terests, it  uniformly  pursues  the  opposite  course ;  and 
in  every  instance  where  other  interests  come  in  col- 
lision with  the  claims  of  moral  rectitude,  the  latter 
hold  absolute  supremacy. 

This  were  a  somewhat  remarkable  fact  in  a  work 
to  be  traced  no  higher  than  the  artifice  of  an  impos- 
tor. Whence  is  it,  that  in  an  age  of  the  world 
when  human  learning  was  so  ignorant,  human  phi- 
losophy so  unwise,  and  the  virtue  and  teachings  of 
its  sages  so  erring,  a  collection  of  impostors  should 
have  this  strange  preeminence  ?  Whence  is  it,  that 
a  system  of  morals,  devised  by  such  men,  should 
strike  its  roots  so  deep  into  the  great  principles  of 
God's  government,  and  the  moral  constitution  of 
man?  Whence  is  it,  that  all  the  results  of  human 
philosophy  are  so  infinitely  surpassed  by  the  moral 
principles  of  a  book,  which  has  its  origin  in  deception 
and  falsehood  ?  "  Hath  not  God  made  foolish  the 
wisdom  of  this  world  ?"  Does  not  this  revelation,  by 
the  mere  truth  and  justness  of  its  moral  distinctions, 
show  that  it  is  God's  work,  and  not  the  work  of  man  ? 

2.  It  is  the  great  peculiarity  of  the  Bible  also, 
that  it  furnishes  the  only  perfect  standard  of  moral 
rectitude.  Human  reason  does  not  know  enough 
to  furnish  such  a  standard ;  nor  is  it  sufficiently  im- 
partial to  do  so,  if  it  were  able.  Conscience  is  not 


ITS   MORAL   RECTITUDE.  101 

sufficiently  enlightened  to  furnish  such  a  standard  ; 
nor,  in  fallen  man,  is  she  sufficiently  honest  to  do 
so,  were  she  enlightened.  One  Being  in  the  uni- 
verse there  is,  and  only  one,  who  is  capable  of  decid- 
ing what  in  all  instances  of  human  conduct  is  right 
in  itself,  and  of  revealing  the  unerring  rule  of  right 
to  the  creatures  he  has  made. 

There  is  a  law  in  the  Scriptures,  called  the  Mo- 
ral Law,  and  comprised  in  ten  precepts,  there  affirmed 
to  have  been  written  by  the  ringer  of  God.  It  is  a 
law  which  uniformly  and  always  commands  what  is 
right,  and  prohibits  what  is  wrong.  Without  stop- 
ping to  expound  it,  it  is  enough  to  say,  that  it  is  so 
comprehensive  as  to  be  applicable  to  every  creature 
in  the  universe,  and  to  every  instance  of  his  moral 
conduct.  Just  as  it  is  proof  of  the  Divine  wisdom, 
to  secure  and  control  ten  thousand  events  in  the 
natural  world  by  one  simple  law  of  nature ;  so  it  is 
one  of  the  proofs  of  his  wisdom,  to  govern  every 
creature  in  the  universe  by  this  one,  simple  law  of 
rectitude.  This  law  is  a  perfectly  decisive  standard, 
and  one  that  is  perfectly  adapted  to  the  workings 
of  natural  conscience.  The  conscience  of  every  man 
that  is  enlightened  by  it,  endorses  it  as  truly  as  the 
congregation  of  Israel  did,  when,  at  the  rehearsal 
of  every  precept  and  penalty,  "  all  the  people  said, 
Amen." 

There  are  several  things  in  relation  to  this  great 
rule  of  moral  conduct,  that  are  worthy  of  a  moment's 
thought. 

It  is  a  consideration  not  to  be  overlooked,  that  it 


102  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

extends  itself  to  the  heart,  and  does  not  stop  short 
of  the  inward  principles  and  motives  of  human  con- 
duct. It  does  not  sever  the  outer  from  the  inner 
man ;  but  regards  his  principles  and  motives  as  the 
germ  of  which  his  outward  conduct  is  the  develope- 
ment.  It  reaches  the  fountain,  and  gains  nothing, 
and  cares  for  nothing,  until  it  carries  the  heart.  It 
identifies  the  love  6f  God  with  keeping  his  com- 
mandments, and  keeping  his  commandments  with 
the  love  of  God.  It  condemns  the  boasted  rectitude 
of  principle  which  is  without  an  outward  and  visible 
morality,  as  well  as  a  Pharisaic  morality  that  is  des- 
titute of  right  principle. 

Another  fact  in  relation  to  it  is,  its  wonderful 
comprehensiveness.  It  comprises  everything  that 
men  think,  or  say,  or  do,  as  well  as  everything  they 
omit  which  they  ought  to  perform.  In  its  induc- 
tions of  particulars,  the  thought  of  evil,  and  the 
murderous  act,  the  two  extremes  of  human  wicked- 
ness, are  specified  as  including  the  entire  range  of 
human  conduct. 

Another  fact  in  relation  to  it  is,  that  it  is  appli- 
cable to  all  men  alike,  regards  all  their  conduct,  and 
is  to  be  carried  everywhere.  It  is  not  for  the  old 
only,  but  for  the  young ;  it  is  not  for  the  poor  only, 
but  for  the  rich ;  it  is  not  for  the  monastery  and 
the  cloister,  the  closet  and  the  family  merely ;  nor  is 
it  confined  to  the  sanctuary  and  the  Sabbath ;  but  it 
regards  all  the  relations  of  society  as  the  spheres  of 
its  influence.  It  consecrates  the  reciprocal  depend- 
encies, obligations,  and  intercourse  between  man  and 


ITS  MORAL  RECTITUDE.  103 

man,  as  well  as  between  man  and  his  Maker ;  and 
looks  upon  this  whole  earth,  with  all  the  variety  of 
its  aspects  and  employments,  as  a  temple,  every  part 
of  which  ought  to  be  vocal  with  God's  praise  and 
devoted  to  his  glory. 

Another  fact  is,  that  it  is  unbending  in  its  claims, 
and  requires  a  rectitude  that  is  sinless.  Its  course 
is  a  straight  one,  and  without  the  least  deviation 
from  a  right  line.  No  departure  from  it  is  allowed, 
under  any  possible  pretence  or  any  imaginable  cir- 
cumstances. It  never  modifies  its  high  claims  in 
accommodation  to  the  character  and  condition  of 
men,  the  maxims  of  the  world,  the  laws  and  usages 
of  society,  or  the  force  of  temptation.  Nothing  in 
the  universe  relaxes  the  obligation,  or  countervails 
the  life  and  spirit  of  it ;  but  it  is  of  perpetual  force 
and  obligation  in  all  worlds,  and  throughout  eternity. 

Nor  does  it  stand  unenforced  with  appropriate 
and  equitable  penalties.  It  does  not  merely  de- 
scribe the  rectitude  it  enjoins,-  nor  does  it  simply 
counsel  men  to  obedience :  it  binds  them  at  their 
peril,  and  on  the  most  fearful  penalties.  Its  lan- 
guage is  in  the  highest  degree  authoritative.  It 
is  not  at  their  option ;  they  have  no  choice  in  the 
matter ;  the  only  alternative  is  obedience,  or  death, 
death  eternal,  and  without  reprieve.  Its  punitive 
power  is  not  passion,  but  principle  ;  it  is  not  a  vacil- 
lating policy,  but  an  established  law  of  the  Divine 
kingdom.  It  is  one  upon  which  the  great  moral 
Governor  of  the  universe  conducts  his  government 
towards  every  part  of  it,  and  with  impartial  equity ; 


104  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

one  which  he  will  emphatically  act  out,  when  he 
bids  the  incorrigible  depart  into  everlasting  fire.  The 
Scriptures  magnify  this  unbending  rectitude  of  the 
Divine  government ;  they  represent  it  as  one  of  the 
excellencies  of  the  Divine  character,  that  he  "  is 
angry  with  the  wicked  every  day ;"  that  he  "  haleth 
all  the  workers  of  iniquity ;"  and  that  his  punitive 
justice  is  as  truly  the  befitting  theme  of  praise  on 
the  lips  of  the  unfallen  and  of  the  redeemed,  as  his 
larger  and  preeminent  grace. 

Infidels  have  reviled  the  Bible,  for  this  perfect 
and  unbending  standard  of  moral  rectitude  which  it 
reveals.  Here  we  are  fairly  at  issue  with  them : 
what  they  affirm  to  be  evidence  of  its  imperfection, 
we  affirm  to  be  evidence  of  its  perfection  ;  what  they 
affirm  could  not  have  originated  with  a  Being  of  per- 
fect benevolence,  we  affirm  could  never  have  origi- 
nated with  man,  whose  benevolence  and  rectitude  are 
so  imperfect.  We  are  content  to  make  the  appeal  to 
every  honest  mind,  whether  such  a  standard  of  recti- 
tude, enforced  by  such  penalties,  is  of  human  origin, 
or  Divine  ? 

The  conclusion  is  rational  and  just.  Such  moral 
rectitude  never  originated  in  this  unrighteous  world. 
Such  precepts  and  sanctions  of  righteousness  are  not 
the  device  of  an  impostor.  From  what  we  know 
of  the  character  of  man,  can  we  suppose  him  to  be 
such  a  lover  and  vindicator  of  moral  rectitude,  as  to 
have  guarded  it  by  such  a  code  ? 

Let  the  complaints  of  this  wicked  world  against 
this  eternal  rule  of  right,  and  these  eternal  sanctions 


ITS  MORAL   RECTITUDE.  105 

of  it,  be  an  answer  to  these  inquiries.  Let  the 
reproach,  and  reviling,  and  bitter  and  malignant  sar- 
casm of  infidelity,  so  profusely  bestowed  on  those 
portions  of  the  Bible  which  most  insist  on  claims 
like  these,  be  our  answer  to  them;  and  let  them 
teach  us,  that  the  moral  rectitude  of  this  book  is  as 
far  above  the  conceptions  and  device  of  men,  as  the 
thoughts  of  God  are  above  the  thoughts  of  man,  and 
the  ways  of  God  above  man's  ways. 

3.  Another  expression  of  the  moral  rectitude  of 
the  Bible  is  found  in  the  solicitude  it  expresses,  and 
the  means  it  adopts  for  the  promotion  of  moral  recti- 
tude among  men.  The  moral  distinctions,  the  stand- 
ard of  rectitude,  and  the  sanctions  by  which  its  great 
rule  of  right  is  supported  and  enforced,  are  doubtless 
expressions  of  this  solicitude,  and  themselves  to  be 
numbered  among  these  selected  means.  But  these 
are  not  the  whole  of  them. 

Men  have  strayed  very  far  from  rectitude,  and 
are  perpetually,  and  on  all  sides,  exposed  to  greater 
and  endless  aberrations.  They  need  to  be  in- 
structed in  the  path  by  which  they  may  retrace  their 
steps.  Their  apostate  character,  the  obtuseness  of 
their  consciences,  and  great  moral  blindness,  call  for 
some  adequate  means  of  moral  transformation  ;  some 
animating  stimulus  to  what  is  right  ;  some  protec- 
tion from  the  storm  of  passions  that  assault  the  soul  ; 
some  secure  guardianship  against  the  seductions  of  a 
corrupting  world  ;  some  interposition  of  a  power  that 
is  effective  to  the  production  of  a  more  sound  and 
better  mind;  some  supporting  hand  to  keep  them 


Bible  not  of  Man. 


106  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

from  falling ;  some  sacred  influences  that  shall  fit 
them  to  behold  the  face  of  God  in  peace,  and  to  live 
and  reign  with  him  forever. 

If  we  reject  the  Bible,  where  are  these  varied 
influences  to  be  found  ?  Infidels  ought  to  feel  them- 
selves under  obligations  to  tell  us  where.  They 
would  fain  take  away  the  rectitude  which  the  Bible 
imparts ;  but  they  leave  us  nothing,  absolutely  no- 
thing, in  its  place.  Natural  science  does  not  reclaim 
men  from  wickedness  ;  if  it  did,  why  were  the  most 
scientific  and  literary  nations  of  ancient  times  the 
most  wicked  ?  Human  laws  cannot  reclaim  them  ; 
for  it  is  an  acknowledged  fact,  that  in  the  best  forms 
of  civil  government  the  world  has  seen,  there  is 
nothing  to  effect  this  moral  renovation. 

I  need  scarcely  say,  that  we  must  despair  of  pro- 
ducing anything  like  an  exemplary  moral  rectitude 
in  the  world,  if  we  abandon  those  principles  and 
means  of  reform,  which  are  found  alone  in  the  Bible. 
If  we  except  those  human  writings  which  draw  their 
instructions  from  this  source,  there  is  but  this  one 
book  that  is  at  all  fitted  to  accomplish,  or  that  seri- 
ously aims  at  accomplishing  this  great  work.  It  is 
not  easy  for  us  to  estimate  the  difficulty  of  accom- 
plishing it,  or  even  the  difficulty  of  making  a  hope- 
ful commencement.  If  you  advert  to  the  early 
instructions  given  to  men  after  the  first  apostacy  had 
its  terrific  sweep  over  the  nations,  you  cannot  but 
observe  the  concern,  the  caution,  and  the  great  con- 
descension which  the  Bible  expresses,  merely  to 
imbue  the  minds  of  the  nation,  to  whom  its  first 


ITS  MORAL  RECTITUDE.  107 

revelations  were  given,  with  some  just  conceptions 
of  moral  rectitude  itself.  By  all  that  was  fearful  in 
the  moral,  and  all  that  was  exact  in  the  ceremonial 
law,  and  by  all  that  was  peculiar  in  their  own  sepa- 
ration from  the  surrounding  and  idolatrous  nations, 
lessons  were  taught  them  which  all  the  volumes  of 
pagan  philosophy  could  not  inculcate.  It  was  only 
thus  progressively  that  their  minds  could  be  opened 
to  moral  distinctions,  and  their  consciences  awakened 
to  the  consideration  of  what  God  himself  approves 
and  will  accept,  and  what  he  disapproves  and  will 
punish.  This  is  one  great  point  to  be  secured  in 
the  minds  of  fallen  men,  and  a  most  important  be- 
ginning in  the  work  of  moral  culture. 

In  prosecuting  this  hallowed  design,  the  next 
step  is,  to  furnish  some  clear  and  distinct  exemplifi- 
cation of  moral  rectitude. 

This  the  Scriptures  do,  especially  in  the  delinea- 
tions they  make  of  the  holy  character  of  God.  They 
could  accomplish  nothing  without  this ;  for  men  had 
lost  the  knowledge  of  God.  Not  one  thought  of  his 
immutable  excellence,  or  of  the  unblotted  rectitude 
of  his  nature,  entered  into  their  religious  systems. 
Their  subordinate  deities  were  examples  of  shame- 
less vice ;  while  their  notions  of  the  supreme  Deity 
betray  the  profoundest  ignorance,  and  the  most  con- 
temptuous disrespect.  It  is  a  remarkable  fact  in  the 
history  of  men,  that  the  conceptions  they  form  of 
-moral  rectitude  depend  upon  their  conceptions  of  the 
Divine  character.  They  are  uniformly  like  the  gods 
they  worship.  The  devout  worshipper  of  the  true 


108  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

God  resembles  his  Father  who  is  in  heaven.  The 
devotee  of  false  gods  resembles  the  gods  he  worships, 
gradually  acquires  the  character  of  the  object  with 
which  he  has  religious  intercourse,  and  receives  the 
stamp  and  seal  of  it  upon  his  own  mind.  And  this 
is  in  perfect  accordance  with  the  laws  of  our  intellec- 
tual and  moral  constitution.  The  Scriptures,  speak- 
ing of  the  idols  of  the  heathen,  teach  us  'that  "  they 
who  make  them  are  like  them,  and  so  is  every  one 
that  putteth  his  trust  in  them."  The  conception 
of  perfect  moral  rectitude  is  nowhere  found  to  exist 
in  the  human  mind,  save  where  there  are  just  con- 
ceptions of  the  Deity.  The  holiness  of  God  binds 
men  to  be  holy  :  it  is  written,  "  Be  ye  holy,  for  I  am 
holy." 

God  himself  is  represented  in  the  Scriptures  as  a 
holy  God  :  his  purposes  are  holy  ;  his  government  is 
holy ;  his  word  is  holy  ;  his  day  is  holy.  Him  they 
make  the  pattern  and  the  patron,  the  shield,  and  the 
exceeding  great  reward  of  holiness  in  men,  while 
they  everywhere  teach  us,  that  in  becoming  holy, 
men  become  his  people,  and  God  himself  becomes 
their  God.  All  the  instructions  of  the  Bible  are 
designed  as  means  of  grace,  and  helps  to  godliness. 
Its  choicest  privileges  exert  the  most  hallowed  influ- 
ence. Its  ordinances,  its  sanctuary,  its  ministry,  its 
fellowship,  were  all  instituted  for  the  purpose  of 
training  up  "a  peculiar  people,  zealous  of  good 
works ;"  nor  are  the  mere  litcralities  and  mechanism 
of  their  outward  observance  there  regarded  as  of  any 
avail,  or  otherwise  than  mockery.  If  we  prize  its 


ITS  MORAL  RECTITUDE.  109 

promises,  they  are  revealed  that  "  we  might  be  par- 
takers of  the  Divine  nature."  If  we  value  its  mercy- 
seat,  "there,"  says  the  God  of  all  grace,  "will  1 
meet  thee,  and  I  will  commune  with  thee,  of  all 
things  which  J  will  give  thee  in  commandment." 
If  we  value  fellowship  with  God,  we  are  reminded 
that  if  we  "regard  iniquity  in  our  heart,  the  Lord 
will  not  hear  us."  The  entire  worship  which  the 
Bible  requires  is  "  in  the  beauties  of  holiness."  This 
spirit  of  heaven,  transferred  to  earth,  as  the  "  dew  of 
youth  from  the  womb  of  the  morning,"  and  consti- 
tuting the  highest  adornment  of  his  followers,  is  the 
promised  reward  of  its  great  subject  and  Redeemer. 
"  Fruit  unto  holiness"  is  its  end  and  its  heaven. 

Again,  I  ask,  Is  there  no  difficulty  in  coming  to 
the  conclusion  that  this  Book  is  of  human  origin  ? 
Can  it  be  the  production  of  a  mind  whose  great  char- 
acteristic is,  that  it  hates  righteousness  ? 

4.  There  is  still  another  expression  of  moral  rec- 
titude, which  strongly  marks  the  revelations  made  in 
the  Scriptures.  I  mean,  the  protection  they  extend 
to  the  claims  and  interests  of  moral  rectitude  in  the 
dispensations  of  pardoning  mercy.  The  expiatory 
death  of  Christ,  as  a  satisfaction  to  Divine  justice,  in 
the  behalf  of  repentant  and  reformed  transgressors, 
must  ever  be  regarded  as  the  strongest  proof  of  moral 
rectitude  in  the  instructions. of  the  Scriptures  them- 
selves. Can  any  lesson  be  more  instructive  to  the 
world,  or  to  the  universe,  than  that  great  lesson 
taught  from  Calvary,  where  the  Eternal  Son  of  God 
himself  died  on  the  cross  to  make  an  effective  atone- 


HO  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

ment  for  the  sins  of  men,  for  the  purpose  of  vindi- 
cating the  stern  claims  of  righteousness?  Rather 
than  sacrifice,  or  trifle  with  eternal  rectitude,  or 
connive  at  wrong,  the  sword  of  justice  was  commis- 
sioned to  awake  against  the  "  Fellow"  of  the  Lord 
of  hosts,  and  pierce  his  righteous  soul,  who  "  thought 
it  not  robbery  to  be  equal  with  God."  Let  the  infi- 
del scoff  no  more,  nor  indulge  his  learned  curiosity 
in  picking  at  this  mountain  of  God's  holiness.  He 
will  not  find  in  it  the  alloy  he  hopes  to  find  :  in  this 
mass  of  pure  gold  there  are  not  even  those  grains  of 
sand  he  is  seeking  after.  Rectitude  and  mercy  have 
here  no  conflicting  interests ;  because  the  claims  of 
rectitude  are  propitiated  by  an  adequate  and  honora- 
ble atonement.  It  is  the  language  of  mercy  which 
is  here  uttered,  but  only  as  it  is  warranted,  echoed 
by  justice.  The  moral  rectitude  that  is  outraged  by 
the  sin  of  man,  is  vindicated  by  the  death  of  Christ. 
The  redemption  by  Christ  stands  forever  side  by 
side  with  the  only  revealed  standard  and  sanctions 
of  moral  rectitude  ;  and  while  it  pardons  those  whom 
the  law  condemns,  it  does  so  without  impugning 
either  the  veracity  or  righteousness  of  the  Lawgiver. 
It  does  more  than  this.  Its  very  love  and  mercy 
are  the  great  and  only  effectual  means  of  restoring 
apostate  men  to  the  moral  rectitude  from  which  they 
have  fallen.  If  the  true  Christian  enters  upon  a 
course  of  obedience,  freed  from  the  embarrassments 
of  a  legal  condemnation,  and  no  longer  struggling 
under  the  thraldom  of  the  curse  ;  it  is  that  he  may 
run  in  the  way  of  God's  commandments  with  an 


ITS  MORAL  RECTITUDE.  HI 

enlarged  heart,  and  be  cheered  by  the  light  of  his 
countenance  in  doing  his  will.  The  salvation  the 
Bible  speaks  of  is  a  salvation  from  sin,  and  restores 
not  less  to  the  Divine  resemblance  than  the  Divine 
favor.  This  is  the  most  important,  as  it  is  the  most 
prominent  feature  of  the  Christian  economy ;  it 
covers  indeed  the  whole  ground  of  a  supernatural 
revelation,  and  employs  all  the  pens  that  have  given 
it  to  the  world,  from  Moses  to  John.  Its  enemies 
have  severely  scrutinized  its  moral  influence ;  and 
not  a  few  of  them  have  been  constrained  to  acknowl- 
edge, that  it  reveals  the  only  system  of  truth,  and 
the  only  motives  by  which  men  become  holy. 

It  is  no  unusual  thing  for  infidels  themselves,  in 
many  instances,  to  do  homage  to  the  moral  rectitude 
of  the  Bible.  "  We  always  recur,"  says  Melvill, 
"  with  great  delight  to  the  testimony  of  a  Deist,  who, 
after  publicly  laboring  to  disprove  Christianity,  and 
to  bring  Scripture  into  contempt  as  a  forgery,  was 
found  instructing  his  own  child  from  the  pages  of 
the  New  Testament.  When  taxed  with  the  flagrant 
inconsistency,  his  only  reply  was,  that  nowhere  was 
there  to  be  found  such  morality  as  in  the  Bible  ! 
We  thank  the  Deist  for  the  confession.  Whatever 
our  scorn  of  a  man  who  could  be  guilty  of  so  foul 
a  dishonesty,  seeking  to  sweep  from  the  earth  a 
volume  to  which  all  the  while  himself  has  recurred 
for  the  principles  of  education,  we  thank  him  for  his 
testimony,  that  the  morality  of  the  Scriptures  is  a 
morality  not  elsewhere  to  be  found ;  so  that  if  there 
were  no  Bible,  there  would  be  comparatively  no 


112  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

source  of  instruction  in  duties  and  virtues,  whose 
neglect  and  decline  would  dislocate  the  happiness 
of  human  society.  The  Deist  was  right.  Deny  or 
disprove  the  divine  origin  of  the  Scriptures,  and 
nevertheless,  you  must  keep  the  volume  as  a  kind 
of  text-book  of  morality."  Lord  Herbert  himself 
acknowledges,  "  that  in  this  respect,  Christianity  is 
the  best  religion ;"  nor,  strange  as  the  inconsistency 
may  be,  does  he  hesitate  to  say,  that  "  the  great 
design  of  all  its  doctrines,  and  even  of  the  rites  and 
ceremonies  there  enjoined,  is  to  establish  those  great 
principles  in  which  true  religion  properly  consists." 
No  man  ever  rejected  the  Bible  without  exhibiting 
the  demoralizing  influence  of  his  unbelief.  I  care 
not  who  the  person  is  that  makes  this  disastrous 
experiment ;  but  let  him  deny  the  truth,  obligations, 
and  hopes  there  revealed,  and  he  will  find,  to  his 
cost,  that  his  sinful  propensities  gain  augmented 
power,  and  that  in  every  instance  he  becomes  a 
worse,  instead  of  a  better  man.  Without  the  Bible, 
men  are  atheists  or  idolaters,  and  always  wicked 
men  ;  with  it,  if  they  are  not  virtuous  and  good 
men,  it  is  from  the  power  of  wickedness,  which  is 
proof  against  the  best  means  of  reform.  It  is  be- 
cause the  safest  and  surest  directory,  the  most  cheer- 
ing encouragement,  the  plainest  and  most  weighty 
obligations  and  sanctions,  and  the  best  fitted  and 
most  urgent  motives  to  rectitude  that  areJcnown  in 
the  universe,  cannot  control  them. 

Such  is  the  moral  rectitude  of  the   Bible.     Let 


ITS   MORAL   RECTITUDE.  113 

us,  in  a  few  words,  close  up  the  argument  for  its 
divine  origin  from  this  single  consideration.  Our 
argument  is  simply  this.  In  the  language  of  Lord 
Bacon,  "  Truth  is  in  order  to  goodness."  Good- 
ness never  was,  never  can  be  the  genuine  fruit  of 
error.  There  is  no  absurdity  more  monstrous,  than 
that  truth  and  moral  rectitude  are  at  war  with  one 
another.  No  system  of  falsehood  is  thus  distin- 
guished for  its  love  of  rectitude,  and  its  uniformly 
hallowed  influence.  If  this  Bible  be  indeed  the 
production  of  uninspired  man,  it  is  not  in  keeping 
with  his  well-known  character,  or  his  well-known 
religious  inventions.  If  it  be  the  production  of  un- 
inspired man,  it  were  a  phenomenon,  a  miracle,  more 
difficult  to  be  accredited  than  the  inspiration  which 
is  the  scoff  of  the  unbeliever.  Nothing  is  more  dis- 
tant from  human  thought,  than  habitual  familiarity 
with  holy  things  and  a  holy  God.  Corrupted  man 
never  devised  a  book  so  pure  and  holy ;  proud  man, 
a  book  so  humbling  ;  selfish  and  worldly  man,  a 
book  so  self-denying  and  spiritual :  man,  depraved, 
wicked  man,  a  book  so  full  of  rebuke  for  his  wick- 
edness, that  it  stings  with  unsparing  and  immeas- 
urable severity  all  his  vices,  has  no  truce  with  sin, 
and  actually  wages  against  it  a  war  of  extermination. 
Was  it  ever 


-"  heard  in  tale,  or  song, 


From  old,  or  modern  bard,  in  hall  or  bower," 
that  such  a  revelation  is  the  Avork  of  man  ?     There 


114  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

is  absurdity  in  such  an  hypothesis  which  evinces 
this  holy  Book  to  be  its  own  witness.  "  Every 
kingdom  divided  against  itself,  is  brought  to  desola- 
tion ;  and  every  city  or  house  divided  against  itself, 
shall  not  stand."  If  the  Bible  be  the  work  of  an 
impostor,  it  is  a  most  unhappy  effort  for  his  own 
cause.  The  arch-deceiver  must  have  taken  leave 
of  his  usual  sagacity,  in  not  restraining  the  pen  that 
gave  it  to  the  world.  If  it  be  the  devil's  work,  it  is 
a  complete  failure.  "  If  Satan  cast  out  Satan,  he  is 
divided  against  himself:  how  shall  then  his  kingdom 
stand  ?"  Men  are  "  wise  to  do  evil ;" — too  wise  to 
have  erected  a  standard  that  should  be  the  rallying 
point  of  every  virtuous  thought  and  affection,  and 
give  currency  to  a  system  that  shall  be  absolute 
ruin  to  themselves. 

Never  could  the  depraved  intelligence  and  de- 
praved heart  of  man  have  inculcated  such  lessons. 
Nothing  is  farther  from  man's  invention  than  such  a 
theory,  such  a  code,  such  a  system  of  obligations, 
and  such  delineations  of  excellence — excellence,  at 
once  so  lofty  and  so  untarnished,  that,  like  this  Book 
of  gems,  it  is  difficult  to  say  whether  it  attracts  most 
by  the  loveliness  of  its  spirit,  or  its  unvarying,  trans- 
parent rectitude. 

I  know  of  but  one  answer  to  this  argument  that 
is  even  plausible.  It  may  be  said,  that  all  men  are 
not  equally  bad ;  that  we  have  given  too  sombre  a 
shading  to  the  character  of  the  race  •  and  that  there 
have  been  all  along  through  the  tracts  of  time,  noble 
and  exalted  specimens  of  humanity ;  men  of  truth 


ITS   MORAL  RECTITUDE.  115 

and  probity,  benevolent  men,  who  desired  above  all 
things  the  moral  elevation  of  their  fellows ;  and  that 
it  is  no  impossible  thing  for  such  men  to  have  been 
the  authors  of  the  Sacred  Writings.  Our  conclu- 
sive answer  to  this  objection  is  threefold.  In  the 
first  place,  no  such  men  have  ever  claimed  to  be  the 
authors  of  this  remarkable  volume  ;  and  if  it  be  the 
work  of  such  men,  is  there  any  possible  motive  for 
them  to  have  left  it  anonymous?  On  the  other 
hand,  is  there  not  every  motive  in  the  excellence  of 
the  book  itself,  for  them  to  have  avowed  themselves 
its  authors?  In  the  next  place,  such  men  never 
would  have  been  impostors,  claiming  the  unerring 
guidance  of  inspiration.  In  the  third  place,  we  fall 
back  upon  .the  assertion,  that  the  thing  itself  is 
impossible.  We  know  there  are  exceptions  to  the 
unmixed  sinfulness  of  our  race,  in  lands  where  the 
Scriptures  have  exerted  their  influence  upon  the 
human  character ;  and  that  in  other  lands  all  are  not 
equally  bad ;  that  there  have  been  here  and  there 
rare  lights  amid  the  moral  darkness  of  the  pagan 
world ;  and  that  men  like  Socrates,  and  Plato,  and 
Seneca,  Plutarch  and  Marcus  Aurelius,  aimed  to  act 
the  part  of  reformers.  Men  have  invented  systems 
of  religion ;  they  have  enjoyed  the  unembarrassed 
opportunity  of  exerting  their  inventive  powers  on 
religious  themes ;  they  have  brought  to  their  inven- 
tions, genius  and  learning,  logic  and  eloquence. 
And  the  results  are  before  the  world.  The  works 
of  the  best  heathen  philosophers  speak  for  them- 
selves, bear  the  moral  image  of  their  authors,  and 


116  THE  BIBLE  NOT   OF   MAN. 

carry  with  them  their  own  evidence  of  a  human 
origin.  All  human  systems  of  religion  are  wicked 
systems,  because  their  authors  were  wicked  men — 
systems  of  immorality  and  abomination,  cherishing 
and  calling  into  action  the  most  depraved  passions 
of  the  human  heart,  and  degrading  their  votaries  to 
the  level  of  brutes.  The  best  of  them,  like  those 
of  Confucius  and  Mahomed,  are  but  memorials  of 
great  minds  made  little  by  falsehood,  and  degraded 
by  sin ;  of  splendid  and  original  talents  actually  de- 
formed by  moral  depravity — proofs  of  imaginative 
genius,  and  affecting  indications  that  "  the  light  that 
was  in  them  was  darkness."  When  infidels  tell  us 
of  systems  of  faith  and  codes  of  morality  that  are  of 
human  origin,  they  speak  intelligibly;  nor  would 
we  depreciate  these  marvellous  discoveries.  We 
look  at  them  just  as  they  are  :  and  what  are  they  ? 
It  is  difficult  for  human  ingenuity  and  human  wick- 
edness combined,  to  render  them  worse  than  they 
are.  Nor  have  they  been  improved,  from  the  days 
of  ancient  Assyria  to  the  present  hour.  They  may 
have  originated  splendid  temples,  but  their  divinities 
are  mean  and  contemptible ;  their  offerings  may 
have  been  costly,  while  the  most  costly  are  the 
most  degrading  and  ruinous ;  and  their  worshippers, 
like  their  divinities  and  rites,  dishonorable  and 
dishonored — vile  in  their  affections,  filled  with  all 
unrighteousness,  and  to  every  good  work  repro- 
bate. Aside  from  those  human  compositions  of 
which  the  Scriptures  are  the  basis,  there  is  not  a 
volume  in  all  the  rich  and  accumulated  libraries  of 


ITS   MORAL  RECTITUDE.  ]17 

earth,  which  diffuses  the  least  fragrance  of  a  celes- 
tial atmosphere,  much  less  that  "savors  the  things 
that  be  of  God,"  and  like  the  Bible,  glows  with  the 
splendors  of  his  holiness. 

It  need  not  surprise  us  that  men  like  those  who 
have  written  against  this  Book  of  God,  should  not 
have  the  clearest  conceptions  of  its  moral  rectitude. 
The  moral  rectitude  of  the  Scriptures  nauseates 
them.  Let  there  be  but  the  infant  breathings  of 
moral  virtue  in  the  soul,  though  it  were  the  gentlest 
movement  brooding  upon  the  face  of  chaos,  and  the 
spirit  within  them  will  give  a  ready  response  to  the 
still  holier  spirit  within  these  Sacred  Oracles,  instinc- 
tively recognizing  their  beauty,  their  glory,  their 
divinity.  There  are  no  more  direct  antipodes  than 
sin  and  the  Bible.  He  who  would  enjoy  and  profit 
by  it,  as  a  mere  production  of  wisdom,  must  culti- 
vate a  conformity  to  its  rectitude.  This  great  char- 
acteristic he  will  find  stamped  upon  it  everywhere — 
sanctifying  its  history,  elevating  its  poetry,  breathing 
itself  into  all  its  principles,  and  throwing  a  hallowed 
and  joyous  influence  around  its  varied  scenery.  It 
will  please  no  man,  the  state  of  whose  mind  is  at 
war  with  its  rectitude ;  nor  can  he  profit  by  it.  so 
long  as  it  displeases  him. 


118  THE  BIBLE   NOT   OF   MAN. 


THE  PECULIAR  AND  DISTINGUISHING  DOCTRINES  OP 
THE  BIBLE,  EVIDENCE   OF  ITS  DIVINE   ORIGIN. 

THE  Gospel  which  was  preached  by  "me,"  says 
the  great  apostle,  "is  not  after  man."  His  appeal 
for  proof  of  its  divine  origin,  was  to  the  Gospel  he 
preached. 

The  peculiar  and  distinguishing  doctrines  of 
which  this  apostle  was  the  advocate,  are  the  doc- 
trines of  the  entire  Scriptures.  We  affirm  concern- 
ing them,  that  they  are  doctrines  which  never  could 
have  originated  with  men. 

The  Scriptures  not  merely  contain  a  code  of 
morals,  but  a  system  of  truth :  great  and  distinctive 
doctrines.  Nor  may  we  abandon  this  position,  be- 
cause believers  in  the  divine  inspiration  of  the  Scrip- 
tures are  not  themselves  agreed  in  their  statements 
of  these  doctrines.  Truth  is  not  dependent  on  the 
opinions  of  men ;  nor  is  it  the  less  important  because 
men  differ  in  their  views  concerning  it,  or  in  their 
exposition  of  the  Sacred  Scriptures.  The  Scriptures 
contain  truths  that  are  their  own ;  truths  which  none 
but  God  knew,  and  which  none  but  God  was  able 
to  reveal.  We  find  them  in  the  Bible,  and  must 


ITS   DISTINGUISHING   DOCTRINES.  H<) 

allow  the  Bible  to  utter  them  in  its  own  way.  If 
the  great  doctrines  of  the  Bible  furnish  any  inherent 
evidence  of  their  divine  origin,  it  is  because  they  are 
peculiar,  and  truths  nowhere  else  revealed.  Let 
them  speak  for  themselves.  We  will  not,  in  our 
argument,  put  any  construction  of  our  own  upon 
them,  but  merely  present  them  in  the  language  of 
the  Scriptures,  "  without  note  or  comment." 

One  of  these  doctrines  relates  to  the  character 
of  man  before  it  is  brought  under  the  transforming 
power  of  Christianity.  On  this  subject  the  repre- 
sentations of  the  Bible  are  plain,  and  easy  to  be 
understood.  "  All  have  sinned,  and  come  short  of 
the  glory  of  God."  "  Both  Jews  and  Gentiles  are 
all  under  sin.  There  is  none  righteous,  no,  not  one  : 
there  is  none  that  understandeth,  there  is  none  that 
seeketh  after  God.  They  are  all  gone  out  of  the 
way,  they  are  together  become  unprofitable  :  there 
is  none  that  doeth  good,  no,  not  one." 

If  from  this  universality  of  human  sinfulness,  we 
inquire  for  its  degree  of  intensity  and  power,  we  are 
instructed  by  such  declarations  as  the  following : 
"  And  God  saw  that  the  wickedness  of  man  was 
great  in  the  earth,  and  that  every  imagination  of  the 
thoughts  of  his  heart  was  only  evil  continually." 
"  The  heart  is  deceitful  above  all  things,  and  des- 
perately wicked."  "  The  heart  of  the  sons  of  men 
is  full  of  evil,  and  madness  is  in  their  hearts." 
"When  ye  were  the  servants  of  sin,  ye  were  free 
from  righteousness."  "  I  know  that  in  me,  that  is 
in  my  flesh,  dwelleth  no  good  thing."  "  And  you 


120  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

hath  he  quickened,  who  were  dead  in  trespasses  and 
sins."  "  The  carnal  mind  is  enmity  against  God  ; 
for  it  is  not  subject  to  the  law  of  God,  neither  indeed 
can  be." 

If  we  inquire  for  the  origin  of  this  depravity,  the 
answer  of  the  Bible  is,  "Who  can  bring  a  clean 
thing  out  of  an  unclean?  '  Not  one."  "Behold,^  I 
was  shapen  in  iniquity,  and  in  sin  did  my  mother 
conceive  me."  "  The  wicked  are  estranged  from 
the  womb ;  they  go  astray  as  soon  as  they  be  born, 
speaking  lies."  "  Thou  wast  called  a  transgressor 
from  the  womb."  "That  which  is  born  of  the 
flesh  is  flesh."  "And  were  by  nature  the  children 
of  wrath,  even  as  others." 

If  we  proceed  to  the  question,  How  is  this  uni- 
versal, this  deep-seated,  this  native  sinfulness  to  be 
accounted  for  ?  this  problem  also  the  Scriptures  solve 
in  declarations  that  are  uniform  and  unequivocal. 
"In  Adam,  all  die."  "  By  the  offence  of  one,  judg- 
ment came  upon  all  men  to  condemnation."  "By 
one  man's  disobedience,  many  were  made  sinners." 

Another  great  doctrine  of  the  Bible  relates  to  that 
moral  transformation  of  character  which  is  indispen- 
sable to  salvation. 

In  regard  to  this,  it  teaches  that  this  transforma- 
tion is  necessary.  "  Make  you  a  new  heart,  and  a 
new  spirit,  for  why  will  ye  die?  "  "  Except  ye  be 
converted,  and  become  as  little  children,  ye  shall  not 
enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven."  "  Cleanse  that 
is  within,  that  the  outside  may  be  clean  also."  "  Ex- 
cept a  man  be  born  again,  he  cannot  see  the  kingdom 


ITS   DISTINGUISHING   DOCTRINES. 

of  God.  Marvel  not  that  I  said  unto  thee,  Ye  must 
be  born  again." 

It  teaches  the  nature  of  this  change,  in  such  dec- 
larations as  these  :  "  The  eyes  of  your  understand- 
ing being  enlightened,  that  ye  may  know  what  is 
the  hope  of  his  calling."  "  Ye  were  once  darkness, 
but  now  are  ye  light  in  the  Lord."  "A  new  heart 
will  I  give  you,  and  a  new  spirit  will  I  put  within 
you ;  and  I  will  take  the  hard  and  stony  heart  out 
of  your  flesh,  and  will  give  you  a  heart  of  flesh." 
"That  which  is  born  of  the  Spirit  is  spirit."  "I 
will  put  my  law  in  their  inward  parts,  and  write 
it  in  their  hearts,  and  will  be  their  God,  and  they 
shall  be  my  people." 

In  regard  to  the  means  by  which  this  transfor- 
mation is  produced,  their  language  is,  "  The  sower 
soweth  the  word."  "Faith  cometh  by  hearing,  and 
hearing  by  the  word  of  God."  "  It  pleased  God  by 
the  foolishness  of  preaching,  to  save  them  that  be- 
lieve." "  In  Christ  Jesus  have  I  begotten  you  through 
the  Gospel."  "  Being  born  again,  not  of  corruptible 
seed,  but  incorruptible,  by  the  word  of  God,  which 
liveth  and  abide th  forever." 

Of  the  efficient  cause  of  this  change,  they  say, 
"Not  by  might,  nor  by  power,  but  by  my  Spirit, 
saith  the  Lord  of  hosts."  "I  have  planted,  Apollos 
watered,  but  God  gave  the  increase."  "  Which  were 
born,  not  of  blood,  nor  of  the  will  of  the  flesh,  nor  of 
the  will  of  man,  but  of  God."  "  So  then  it  is  not 
of  him  that  willeth,  nor  of  him  that  runneth,  but 
of  God  that  sheweth  mercy."  "  You  hath  he  quick- 


BiM«  not  of  M:\ 


122  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

ened,  who  were  dead  in  trespasses  and  sins."  "No 
man  can  come  to  me,  except  the  Father  which  hath 
sent  me  draAV  him."  "  Thy  people  shall  be  willing 
in  the  day  of  thy  power."  "  We  are  his  workman- 
ship, created  in  Christ  Jesus  unto  good  works." 

Another  important  doctrine  of  which  they  speak, 
is  the  well-defined  method  of  the  sinner's  pardon  and 
acceptance  with  God. 

They  teach  what  it  is  not,  when  they  say,  "  It 
is  not  by  works  of  righteousness  which  we  have 
done."  "Knowing  that  a  man  is  not  justified  by 
the  works  of  the  law."  "  If  righteousness  come  by 
the  law,  then  Christ  is  dead  in  vain."  "  Therefore 
by  the  deeds  of  the  law  shall  no  flesh  be  justified 
in  his  sight." 

And  they  teach  us  what  it  is,  when  they  say, 
"  Being  justified  freely  by  his  grace,  through  the 
redemption  that  is  in  Christ  Jesus."  "  Being  now 
justified  by  his  blood,  we  shall  be  saved  from  wrath 
through  him."  "  But  now  the  righteousness  of  God 
without  the  law  is  manifested,  being  witnessed  by 
the  law  and  the  prophets,  even  the  righteousness  of 
God  which  is  by  faith  in  Jesus  Christ,  unto  all,  and 
upon  all  them  that  believe." 

Another  of  the  great  doctrines  of  the  Bible  re- 
lates to  the  nature  of  true  religion,  the  distinctive 
character  of  Christian  piety.  On  this  subject  its 
instructions  are  greatly  extended,  and  exhibited  in  a 
great  variety  of  forms. 

It  admonishes  us  of  a  religion  that  is  spurious,  in 
such  declarations  as  these  :  "  They  have  not  turned 


ITS  DISTINGUISHING  DOCTRINES.  123 

unto  me  with  then-  whole  heart,  but  feignedly,  saith 
the  Lord."  "  With  their  mouth,  they  shew  much 
love,  but  their  heart  goeth  after  their  covetousness." 
"  Ye  seek  me,  not  because  ye  saw  the  miracles,  but 
because  ye  did  eat  of  the  loaves,  and  were  filled." 
"  Many  shall  say  unto  me  in  that  day,  Lord,  have 
we  not  prophesied  in  thy  name,  and  in  thy  name 
done  many  wonderful  works  ?  To  whom  the  king 
shall  say,  I  know  you  not,  whence  ye  are ;  depart 
from  me,  all  ye  workers  of  iniquity." 

They  also  define  and  delineate  the  religion  that 
is  genuine.  It  is  "  the  love  of  God  shed  abroad  in 
the  heart  by  the  Holy  Ghost ;"  and  the  love  of  God 
that  "keepeth  his  commandments."  It  is  the  char- 
ity, without  which  all  else  "profiteth  nothing."  It 
is  "  not  meat  and  drink,  but  righteousness,  and 
peace,  and  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost."  These  emo- 
tions they  uniformly  represent  as  supreme  and  para- 
mount in  every  bosom  where  they  exist.  "  If  any 
man  will  be  my  disciple,  let  him  take  up  his  cross 
and  follow  me."  "  He  that  will  save  his  life,  shall 
lose  it ;  and  he  that  will  lose  his  life  for  my  sake, 
the  same  shall  find  it." 

Another  great  and  peculiar  doctrine  of  the  Bible 
relates  to  the  purpose  of  God  in  extending  his  grace 
and  salvation  to  a  chosen  people.  Here  its  language 
is  cautious,  well  selected,  and  emphatic.  "  Many 
are  called,  but  few  are  chosen."  "  As  many  as  were 
ordained  to  eternal  life,  believed."  "  Chosen  in  Christ 
before  the  foundation  of  the  world."  "Predesti- 
nated unto  the  adoption  of  children."  "  The  called 


124  THE   BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

of  God  according  to  his  purpose  ;•  for  whom  he  did 
foreknow,  them  also  he  did  predestinate  to  be  con- 
formed to  the  image  of  his  Son."  "  The  election 
hath  obtained  it,  and  the  rest  were  blinded." 

It  is  also  among  the  cardinal  truths  of  the  Bible, 
that  all  the  incorrigible  enemies  of  God  shall  be 
punished  with  everlasting  destruction,  and  that  their 
sufferings  shall  be  literally  without  end.  "  Verily, 
thou  shalt  by  no  means  come  out  thence,  until  thou 
hast  paid  the  uttermost  farthing."  v  "  Some  shall 
awake  to  shame  and  everlasting  contempt."  "  To 
whom  is  reserved  the  blackness  of  darkness  forever." 
"  Punished  with  everlasting  destruction  from  the 
presence  of  the  Lord,  and  the  glory  of  his  power." 
"  The  smoke  of  their  torment  ascendeth  forever 
and  ever."  "  Cast  into  the  fire  that  shall  never  be 
quenched."  "  Where  their  worm  dieth  not,  and  the 
fire  is  not  quenched. "v  "  Nigh  unto  cursing,  whose 
end  is  to  be  burned." 

Nor  may  we  overlook  the  great  truth,  that  the 
Bible  enforces  the  duty  of  believing  the  Gospel,  on 
all  tnen  who  hear,  or  have  the  opportunity  of  hear- 
ing it.  "  Kiss  the  Son,  lest  he  be  angry,  and  ye 
perish  from  the  way,  when  his  wrath  is  kindled  but 
a  little."  "  Ho  every  one  that  thirsteth,  come  ye 
to  the  waters,  and  he  that  hath  no  money :  come 
ye,  buy  and  eat ;  yea,  come,  buy  wine  and  milk, 
without  money,  and  without  price."  "  Seek  ye  the 
Lord  while  he  may  be  found ;  call  ye  upon  him 
\vhile  he  is  near."  "  Let  the  wicked  forsake  his 
way,  and  the  unrighteous  man  his  thoughts  :  and  let 


ITS  DISTINGUISHING  DOCTRINES.  |25 

him  return  unto  the  Lord,  and  he  will  have  mercy 
upon  him  •  and  to  our  God,  for  he  will  abundantly 
pardon."  "  While  ye  have  the  light,  believe  in  the 
light,  that  ye  may  be  the  children  of  light."  "  This 
is  the  work  of  God,  that  ye  believe  on  him  whom 
he  hath  sent."  "  Repent  and  believe  the  Gospel." 
"  God  now  commandeth  all  men  everywhere  to 
repent."  "  If  I  say  the  truth,  why  do  ye  not  believe 
me  ?"  The  Bible  allows  no  excuse,  and  admits  no 
delay  in  the  performance  of  this  reasonable  duty. 
"  When  will  ye  be  wise  ?"  "  Behold,  now  is  the 
accepted  time  ;  behold,  now  is  the  day  of  salvation." 
"  We  are  ambassadors  for  Christ :  as  though  God 
did  beseech  you  by  us,  we  pray  you  in  Christ's 
stead,  be  ye  reconciled  to  God."  The  end  and 
object  of  preaching  the  Gospel  is  said  to  be,  "  for 
obedience  to  the  faith  among  all  nations." 

The  preceding  specifications  are  not  designed  to 
present  even  a  summary  of  Christian  doctrine ;  but 
merely  some  of  those  truths  which  have  a  strong 
prominence  in  the  Bible,  and  the  same  prominence 
in  this  branch  of  our  argument.  The  Bible  con- 
tains these  truths.  It  is  not  my  object  to  expound 
them  :  let  them  be  expounded  by  different  denomi- 
nations of  Christendom,  fairly  and  with  an  honest 
conscience.  To  say  nothing  of  the  construction 
M'hich  must,  in  our  judgment,  be  put  upon  them, 
our  position  is,  that  these  truths,  put  upon  them 
what  construction  you  will,  could  not  have  been  of 
human  invention,  and  that  they  clearly  indicate  a 


'*'HE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

heavenly  origin.  We  maintain  this  position  by  the 
following  reasons. 

In  the  first  place,  no  false  religion  possesses 
such  frank  and  unreserved  honesty.  Men  are  acute 
judges  of  everything  in  the  form  of  religious  impos- 
ture. Artifice  in  this  matter,  however  ingenious, 
is  very  apt  to  be  discovered ;  it  cannot  endure  severe 
scrutiny.  There  are  spurious  productions  in  the 
world,  which  assume  to  be  of  Divine  authority, 
which  no  sober  man  regards  in  any  other  light  than 
mere  fabrication,  and  which  are  distinguished  by 
nothing  more  than  the  absence  of  every  criterion  of 
divine  inspiration.  False  religions  are  proverbially 
systems  of  practised  concealment ;  systems  in  which 
there  is  a  designed  immingling  of  truth  and  false- 
hood. 

This  remark  is  abundantly  verified,  both  by  the 
paganism  of  Greece  and  Rome,  and  the  Koran  of 
Mahomed.  Neander,  in  his  "  Ecclesiastical  History 
of  the  first  three  centuries,"  remarks,  that  "  the  rul- 
ing opinion  of  all  the  thinking  men  of  antiquity  was 
that  pure,  religious  truth,  could  not  be  proposed  to 
the  multitude  ;  but  only  such  a  mixture  of  fiction, 
poetry  and  truth,  as  would  serve  to  represent  relig- 
ious notions  in  such  a  manner  that  they  might 
make  an  impression  on  men  whose  only  guide  was 
their  senses."  Paganism  had  its  mysteries,  of  which 
all  were  ignorant  except  the  initiated.  Each  of  the 
heathen  gods,  besides  the  worship  paid  to  him  in 
public,  had  a  secret  worship,  to  which  none  were 
admitted  but  those  who  were  prepared  by  previous 


ITS  DISTINGUISHING  DOCTRINES.  127 

ceremonies.  This  secret  worship  was  termed  "  the 
mysteries  of  the  god,"  and  was  always  paid  in  the 
night.  I  cannot  describe  it  better  than  by  saying, 
it  was  a  system  of  free  masonry.  The  initiated  were 
bound,  under  the  severest  penalties,  to  conceal  the 
secrets  of  these  nocturnal  orgies.  Whatever  their 
religion  was,  it  was  not  published  to  the  world. 

There  is  nothing  of  all  this  in  the  Bible.  What- 
ever else  may  be  said  concerning  it,  it  is  a  bold  and 
honest  book.  So  every  ingenuous  mind  decides  that 
it  should  be.  Of  all  subjects  in  the  world,  religion 
is  one  of  universal  concernment ;  if  it  possesses  any 
vital  importance,  it  is  equally  as  important  to  one 
man  as  another  :  it  admits  of  no  concealment  of  any 
of  its  principles  from  any  class,  or  part  of  mankind. 
Nor  will  it  be  denied  that  it  is  one  of  the  distinctive 
features  of  the  religion  of  the  Scriptures,  that  it  has 
no  concealment.  Its  first  messengers  were  commis- 
sioned to  go  publicly  and  boldly  to  proclaim  their 
messages  in  the  presence  of  the  haughtiest  monarchs 
and  the  proudest  courts.  The  long  succession  of 
teachers  and  prophets  under  the  Old  Testament  dis- 
pensation, addressed  themselves  to  the  entire  Jewish 
nation.  When  the  Founder  of  Christianity  gave 
their  commission  to  his  apostles,  he  required  them 
to  "go  into  all  the  world,  and  preach  the  Gospel  to 
every  creature."  When  the  high  priest  "asked  Jesus 
of  his  disciples  and  of  his  doctrine"  Jesus  answered, 
"  I  spake  openly  to  the  world ;  I  ever  taught  in  the 
synagogue  and  in  the  temple,  whither  the  Jews 
always  resort,  and  in  secret  have  I  said  nothing." 


128  THE  BIBLE   NOT  OF   MAN. 

Both  Christ  and  his  apostles  everywhere  uttered 
these  great  and  distinguishing  doctrines  to  which 
we  have  just  referred.  These  truths  are,  and  have 
been  for  centuries  published  to  the  world,  without 
the  least  restriction  or  reserve,  inviting  scrutiny,  and 
everywhere  proclaiming,  "  He  that  hath  ears  to  hear, 
let  him  hear !"  The  Bible  has  not  one  concealed 
principle :  it  has  no  secret  worship,  no  secret  gov- 
ernment or  policy,  and  no  society  of  men  that  are 
bound  by  vows  of  secrecy.  Its  laws  are  public  ;  its 
institutions  are  established  openly  ;  its  solemn  as- 
semblies, and  all  its  rites  and  observances,  have  the 
nations  for  their  witnesses.  It  has  no  stratagem,  no 
management,  no  trimming,  time-serving  prudence, 
which  reluctates  at  discovering  its  real  sentiments. 
It  has  no  Platonic  distinction  between  exoteric  and 
esoteric  doctrines,  or  the  doctrines  that  are  taught  to 
the  multitude,  and  the  doctrines  that  are  taught  to 
the  few.  It  has  no  concern  lest  its  claims  should  be 
too  freely  canvassed,  or  its  principles  too  extensively 
or  thoroughly  understood.  It  discusses  a  great  va- 
riety of  topics  of  vital  interest  to  men,  but  it  does  so 
without  embarrassment.  It  is  far  from  being  a  dull 
and  tame  book,  for  the  reason  that  it  is  an  honest 
book.  It  speaks  the  mind  and  will  of  its  Author 
with  so  much  frankness,  that  when  once  men  are 
interested  in  it,  their  interest  is  sure  to  be  deep  and 
permanent.  While  it  makes  no  boast  of  originality, 
and  affects  nothing  of  a  self-glorying  and  sturdy 
independence  of  thought,  it  exhibits  truth  with  a 
simplicity  and  fearlessness  that  are  never  controlled 


ITS   DISTINGUISHING  DOCTRINES.  129 

by  the  opinions  of  men,  and  that  ask  no  indulgence. 
Every  attentive  reader  must  have  been  impressed 
with  this  peculiarity  of  the  Scriptures ;  and  have  a 
strong  conviction,  that,  in  this  respect,  they  differ 
from  that  caution  and  reserve  which  mark  the  pro- 
ductions of  an  impostor. 

The  object  of  an  impostor  is  to  practise  decep- 
tion ;  he  could  scarcely  fail  to  wrap  up  his  system 
in  some  disguise.  He  would  never  disclose  such 
truths  as  those  which  we  have  specified,  even  if  they 
had  a  place  in  his  system.  It  would  have  been  a 
very  easy  thing  for  the  authors  of  the  sacred  books 
to  have  suppressed  these  truths ;  and  in  so  doing 
they  would  have  silenced  the  cavils  of  a  large  class 
of  opposers.  But  they  were  honest  and  truthful  to 
the  letter.  Their  object  was  truth — God's  truth; 
and  therefore  there  is  nothing  kept  back,  nothing 
discolored,  nothing  softened  by  those  delicate  and 
deceptive  touches  of  the  pencil  that  suppress  truth, 
or  immingle  truth  with  error. 

2.  Our  next  remark  is,  that  no  false  religion 
would. have  given  these  great  and  peculiar  doc- 
trines the  prominent  place  which  they  occupy  in  the 
Sacred  Scriptures.  Were  we  to  adopt  the  loose 
notions  of  Christian  doctrine  which  are  adopted  by 
some  who  call  themselves  Christians,  we  should  feel 
that  we  had  abandoned  Christianity  itself,  and  had 
become  the  advocates  of  a  system  but  little  in  ad- 
vance of  natural  religion.  But  in  so  doing,  we  should 
have  an  inward  conviction  that  we  had  abandoned 
one  of  the  strongholds  of  a  supernatural  revelation. 

Bible  not  of  Man.  * 


130  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

While  the  truths  we  have  specified  bear  strong 
marks  of  peculiarity,  they  are  everywhere  prominent, 
and  enter  deeply  into  the  foundations  of  the  Chris- 
tian faith.     They  are  represented  in  the  Scriptures 
as  revealed  for  the  purpose  of  being  believed ;  nor  is 
there  any  injunction  more  explicitly  enforced,  than 
that  which  makes  it  the  duty  of  men  to  believe, 
love,  and  obey  them.     We  are  nowhere  instructed 
in  this  book  that  it  is  of  no  consequence  what  men 
believe ;  the  Bible  makes  a  true  and  cordial  faith,  in 
God's  word  the   turning  point   of  their  salvation. 
"  Whosoever  will  not  hearken  to  my  words,  I  will 
require  it  of  him."     "  See  that  ye  refuse  not  him 
that  speaketh ;  for  if  they  escaped  not  who  refused 
him  that  spake  on  earth,  much  more  shall  not  we 
escape  who  refuse  him  that  speaketh  from  heaven." 
It  is  a  revealed  principle  of  the  Bible,  that  men  reject 
its  truths  at  their  peril.     To  those  who  "  do  not  obey 
the  truth,  God  will  render  tribulation  and  anguish." 
There  may  be  ignorance  of  the  cardinal  truths  of 
which  we  have  spoken :  there  may  be  strong  preju- 
dices of  education  against    them ;    there   may  be 
objections  to  the  form  of  expression  in  which  they 
are  presented  in  human  formularies ;  yet,  the  Bible 
itself  being  judge,  no  man  can  be  at  heart  a  Chris- 
tian who  rejects  that  revelation  of  them  which  is 
made  in  the  Scriptures. 

Such  is  the  importance  which  the  Bible  attaches 
to  these  great  truths  as  a  matter  of  practice,  and  as 
furnishing' .a  test  of  Christian  character.  Nor  does 
it  assign  a  less  important  place  to  them  as  a  matter 


ITS   DISTINGUISHING   DOCTRINES. 

of  theory,  and  as  the  standard  of  a  true  Christianity. 
It  styles  everything  else  that  is  inconsistent  with 
these,  "  another  gospel,"  and  imprecates  God's  anath- 
ema upon  those  who  preach  it.  These  truths  are 
represented  as  fundamental  to  the  Gospel,  as  well 
as  essential  to  piety.  They  hold  the  same  place  in 
the  system  of  truth,  which  they  hold  in  the  system 
of  grace  and  salvation.  They  are  not  points  of  mere 
abstract  speculation,  but  constitute  the  sum  and 
substance,  the  heart  and  soul,  of  all  the  instructions 
which  the  Bible  contains.  They  maintain  an  in- 
dissoluble connection :  if  any  one  of  them  is  fairly 
disproved,  our  confidence  is  lost  in  the  whole.  Take 
away  the  Scriptural  doctrine  of  human  sinfulness, 
and  there  is  no  need  of  the  doctrine  of  regeneration  ; 
nor  of  the  doctrine  of  redemption  through  the  blood 
of  Christ ;  nor  of  a  preached  Gospel ;  nor  of  the  doc- 
trine of  discriminating  and  electing  grace ;  nor  of 
the  doctrine  of  everlasting  punishment.  Take  away 
the  doctrine  of  everlasting  punishment,  and  all  the 
other  doctrines  fall  with  it.  Deny  the  Divine  pur- 
pose to  save  a  part  of  mankind,  and  all  the  correla- 
tive truths  which  make  up  and  fulfil  that  purpose, 
have  no  place  in  the  sacred  record.  These  great 
truths  are  therefore  not  only  found  in  the  Bible,  but 
are  essential  to  the  existence  of  Christianity,  and 
lie  at  the  foundation  of  the  whole  method  of  grace 
through  the  Redeemer. 

We  affirm,  that  no  false  religion  would  have 
given  such  doctrines  this  prominence.  An  impostor 
would  have  been  too  wary  to  have  done  this ;  he 


132  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

never  could  have  been  so  insensate  as  to  have  in- 
sisted on  these  great  peculiarities,  as  constituting  the 
pith  and  marrow  of  his  religion. 

It  is  the  object  of  false  religions  to  make  the 
way  to  heaven  a  broad  and  easy  path,  and  strew  it 
with  flo'wers.  On  no  subject  were  the  writers  of 
the  sacred  volume  more  strongly  tempted  to  prac- 
tise a  sort  of  "pious  fraud,"  than  by  suppressing 
these  pungent  and  heart-searching  truths,  and  thus 
making  the  way  of  life  easier  than  it  is,  and  holding 
forth  inducements  to  piety,  that  might  be  deceptive 
and  ensnaring.  But  they  never  do  this.  False  relig- 
ions are  anxious  to  multiply  converts  at  the  expense 
of  truth  ;  the  Bible  nowhere  manifests  any  such  soli- 
citude. These  great  truths  sound  the  note  of  caution 
and  alarm,  and  bid  men  count  the  cost  of  becoming 
Christians.  In  no  instance  do  the  sacred  writers 
conceal  the  trials  or  embarrassments  that  are  inci- 
dent on  a  firm  attachment  to  the  truth  of  God.  A 
cautious  and  sagacious  deceiver  would  never  have 
deduced  from  the  truths  he  had  uttered,  the  prac- 
tical result,  "  Straight  is  the  gate  and  narrow  is 
the  way  which  leadeth  unto  life,  and  few  there  be 
that  find  it ;"  nor  the  equally  solemn  declaration. 
"  Broad  is  the  way  that  leadeth  to  destruction,  and 
many  there  be  which  go  in  thereat."  Nor  would 
truths  that  necessarily  lead  to  such  a  result,  ever 
have  found  a  place  in  the  Bible,  had  it  been  the  pro- 
duction of  a  deceiver.  False  religions  urge  men  to 
the  adoption  of  their  systems  of  error,  from  unhal- 
lowed and  unworthy  motives;  the  Bible,  on  the 


ITS   DISTINGUISHING   DOCTRINES. 

other  hand,  urges  them  to  truth  and  duty,  and  for 
truth  and  duty's  sake.  It  nowhere  instructs  men, 
that  if  they  receive  these  great  truths  and  practise 
the  duties  they  enjoin,  it  is  of  no  consequence 
by  what  motives  they  are  influenced.  It  deals 
frankly  in  this  matter.  It  reveals  great  and  cardi- 
nal truths ;  it  urges  them  upon  the  conscience  by 
the  authority  of  God,  and  by  their  own  intrinsic 
excellence,  and  then  leaves  them  to  do  their  own 
execution. 

3.  Another  remark  in  relation  to  these  truths  is, 
that  no  false  religion  would  have  disclosed  truths 
that  are  so  unwelcome  and  obnoxious  to  the  human 
heart.  The  object  of  the  Bible  is  not  to  please 
men,  but  to  instruct  and  save  them.  Hence  it  with- 
holds no  truth,  be  it  ever  so  unwelcome.  While  it 
evinces  no  desire  to  excite  the  hostility  of  men,  or 
to  excite,  or  confirm  their  prejudices  against  the 
truth ;  so  far  is  it  from  shrinking  from  a  disclosure 
of  the  most  unwelcome  truths,  that  these  are  the 
truths  on  which  it  insists  with  the  greatest  urgency. 
Instead  of  interesting  men  for  an  hour,  its  object  is 
to  interest  them  for  eternity.  Instead  of  fearing 
their  displeasure,  it  lays  its  account  for  it,  and  pro- 
claims these  unwelcome  truths  "  whether  men  will 
hear,  or  whether  they  will  forbear."  Instead  of 
offering  incense  to  their  pride,  its  object  is  to  bring 
their  hearts  to  the  test  of  truths  the  most  humbling. 
Instead  of  descanting,  however  wisely,  and  learnedly, 
and  beautifully  upon  such  truths  as  these,  they  sim- 
ply hold  them  up  to  the  inspection  of  men  in  all 


134  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

their  transparency,  and  illumined  by  the  lights  of 
heaven. 

Does  it  require  any  labored  argument  to  prove 
that  these  truths  are  unwelcome  and  obnoxious  to 
the  human  heart.  We  appeal  to  the  nature  of  these 
truths  themselves,  to  the  conscious  hostility  of  men 
towards  them,  to  the  history  of  the  past,  and  to  all 
human  observation,  where  these  truths  are  faithfully 
exhibited,  if  it  be  not  so  ?  Men  do  not  love  to  be 
told  they  are  such  sinners  as  the  Bible  represents 
them.  Our  race  is  a  proud  one.  No  child  loves  to 
be  told  its  faults.  Men  who  believe  the  Bible  to  be 
true,  quarrel  with  its  faithful  delineations,  and  its 
unsparing  rebukes  of  human  wickedness.  These 
representations  are  most  humiliating  to  the  self-com- 
placent heart  of  man.  The  great  mass  of  men  can- 
not bear  to  be  told  that  they  are  so  vile.  Not  a  few 
are  there  who,  like  the  hearers  of  Stephen,  almost 
"  gnash  upon  "  the  preacher  "  with  their  teeth,"  who 
boldly  takes  the  part  of  the  Bible,  and  tells  them  to 
their  faces  how  vile  they  are  in  God's  sight.  So  of 
every  truth  in  detail,  to  which  we  have  referred. 
The  effect  which  these  truths  produce  upon  the 
minds  of  wicked  men  is  a  very  powerful  and  pain- 
ful effect,  and  they  resist  them  as  long  as  they  can. 
They  are  truths  which  do  not  allow  the  least  apol- 
ogy for  sin  ;  they  are  strong  and  heavy  truths ;  they 
are  like  the  fire  and  the  hammer  which  breaketh  the 
rock  in  pieces  ;  they  are  the  axe  "  laid  at  the  root 
of  the  trees,  and  every  tree  that  bringeth  not  forth 
good  fruit,  is  hewn  down  and  cast  into  the  fire." 


ITS  DISTINGUISHING  DOCTRINES.  135 

Wicked  men  want  a  different  sort  of  Bible  from 
this.  They  suppress  such  Scriptures ;  they  pro- 
scribe them  •  they  forbid  the  reading  of  them  in  the 
vernacular  tongue ;  they  burn  them  by  thousands  ; 
they  say  unto  God,  Depart  from  us ;  and  to  his  min- 
isters, "  Speak  unto  us  smooth  things ;  prophecy 
unto  us  deceits."  They  are  inveterate  enemies  of 
these  great  truths,  because  these  truths  themselves 
make  exhibitions  of  God  such  as  the  carnal  mind 
has  no  delight  in.  They  enforce  claims  which  such 
a  mind  does  not  admit.  They  demand  the  sacri- 
fices of  its  idols ;  they  subject  it  to  trials  it  cannot 
think  of  encountering.  They  would  fain  pull  down 
and  demolish  the  stately  edifice  of  its  pride  ;  subdue 
its  will  to  the  will  of  the  Great  Supreme  ;  and  do 
actually  throw  all  its  interests  and  itself  into  the 
hands  of  God,  as  the  clay  is  in  the  hands  of  the 
potter. 

Hence  the  war — the  bitter  war,  the  everlasting 
war.  They  often  so  lash  and  scourge  the  sinner, 
that  he  is  conscious  of  the  conflict.  His  reason  is 
enlisted  against  them  ;  he  summons  all  the  powers  of 
argument  to  show  that  they  are  not  found  in  the 
Bible ;  and  if  found  there,  cannot  be  true  ;  and  if 
true,  free  him  from  his  obligations.  But  above  all, 
is  his  heart  enlisted  against  them.  He  complains 
that  he  has  a  hard  master.  He  rebels  and  replies 
against  God ;  and  with  the  sinners  of  other  times 
demands,  "  Who  hath  resisted  his  will  ?"  There  is 
no  one  of  these  great  truths  that  accommodates 
itself  to  the  wishes  of  men.  They  ever  have  been, 


136  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF   MAN. 

and  still  are  obnoxious,  nay,  nauseating  truths.  With 
all  their  boasted  liberality,  the  most  liberal  are  dis- 
satisfied with  them  ;  nor  is  it  any  small  cause  of 
offence  to  them,  that  they  are  received  by  others. 
They  are  tolerant  of  error,  but  they  have  no  tole- 
rance for  such  truths  as  these.  They  have  charity 
for  all,  for  everything  save  these,  and  such  as  these. 
These  are  the  truths  for  which  they  stoned  the 
prophets,  killed  the  apostles,  and  crucified  the  Lord 
of  glory.  These  are  the  truths  for  which  so  many 
thousands  have  been  burnt  at  the  stake,  and  lan- 
guished in  dungeons,  and  been  driven  from  among 
men  like  beasts  of  prey.  They  are  among  the 
severest  tests  of  the  moral  state  of  the  heart  which 
can  be  applied  to  it,  and  when  applied,  never  fail  to 
indicate  its  hostility  to  God  and  righteousness.  It 
is  one  of  the  most  painful  and  self-denying  duties 
imposed  on  the  Christian  ministry,  to  enforce  these 
great  truths  ;  because  there  is  not  one  of  them  which, 
when  exhibited  in  its  true  light,  is  even  tolerable  to 
an  earthly  mind.  Our  argument,  therefore,  is  no  far- 
fetched argument.  A  religion  got  up  by  trick  and 
imposture,  never  could  have  disclosed  such  truths. 
They  are  "made  of  sterner  stuff"  than  that  which 
the  mind  of  an  impostor  would  ever  have  thought 
of  handling.  It  is  impossible  they  could  have  been 
inwoven,  ever  so  artfully,  into  a  false  religion.  No 
impostor  would  ever  have  thought  of  palming  them 
upon  the  world.  He  would  not  have  ventured  thus 
to  expose  his  system  and  himself  to  infuriate  hos- 
tility. Men  do  not  like  such  leaders  as  these  ;  and 


ITS  DISTINGUISHING  DOCTRINES.  137 

no  smooth-faced  and  false-hearted  impostor  would 
have  jeoparded  such  a  revelation  to  such  a  world  as 
this.  Can  it  be  conceived  that  such  truths  origi- 
nated with  men  ?  Or  if  men  could  have  revealed 
them,  what  inducement  had  they  to  make  such  a 
revelation,  in  opposition  to  all  the  favor  and  influ- 
ence of  those  whose  favor  and  kindness  an  impostor 
would  desire  to  conciliate  ?  It  is  puerile  to  deny 
that  these  truths  are  contained  in  the  Bible ;  it  is 
madness  to  suppose  they  originated  with  men.  The 
unwelcome  character  of  this  class  of  truths,  there- 
fore, will  forever  stand  a  living  monument  of  their 
heavenly  origin. 

4.  The  last  remark  in  relation  to  these  truths  is, 
that  they  are  fatal  to  the  success  of  that  religion  of 
which  they  compose  so  important  a  part,  unless  it  be 
from  God.  A  religion  which  contains  so  many 
truths  which  men  hate ;  truths  so  honestly  and 
boldly  revealed ;  truths  which  stand  forth  so  une- 
quivocally, and  that  are  cemented  with  the  deep 
foundations  of  Christianity  ;  any  impostor  must  have 
seen  would  be  absolutely  fatal  to  its  extensive  pro- 
pagation in  the  Avorld.  If  the  Bible  had  been  the 
work  of  men,  one  of  the  first  objects  at  which  its 
authors  would  have  aimed,  would  have  been  to  have 
constructed  it  in  such  a  manner  as  not  to  be  abhor- 
rent to  the  views  of  its  readers.  It  would  seem  to 
be  indispensable  to  the  success  of  such  an  imposture, 
not  to  pursue  a  course  in  which  it  must  necessarily 
encounter  vigorous,  opposing  influences. 

One  of  the  strong  objections  to  Christianity  of 


138  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

that  champion  of  infidelity,  Lord  Herbert,  is  that  it 
contains  what  he  is  pleased  to  call  "  disgusting  doc- 
trines." The  use  he  would  make  of  this  fact  is, 
that  the  religion  of  nature  is  to  be  preferred  to  the 
religion  of  Christ.  The  use  we  would  make  of  it  is, 
that  a  religion  that  contains  these  humbling  and 
self-denying  truths,  never  could  have  been  pro- 
pounded by  an  impostor  with  any  hope  of  thus  im- 
posing on  the  credulity  of  mankind. 

There  is  no  principle  more  clearly  revealed  in 
the  Bible,  than  that  if  men  become  converts  to  its 
doctrines,  they  must  become  so,  not  by  the  power 
of  the  sword,  not  by  the  force  of  civil  enactments,  or 
ecclesiastical  influence  and  authority,  but  freely,  and 
on  sober,  deliberate  conviction.  "  My  son,  give  me 
thine  heart."  "  The  weapons  of  our  warfare  are  not 
carnal."  There  was  nothing  in  the  learning,  or  per- 
sonal influence,  either  of  the  prophets  of  the  Old 
Testament,  or  the  apostles  of  the  New,  on  which 
they  could  rely  for  the  successful  propagation  of 
the  doctrines  they  taught.  They  had  no  alliance 
with  the  power  of  civil  governments ;  civil  govern- 
ments were  opposed  to  them.  They  could  not 
promise  wealth,  station,  nor  honor  to  their  followers, 
but  the  rather,  poverty,  degradation,  and  suffering. 
If  they  were  impostors,  their  only  hope  of  success 
was  in  so  framing  their  system  of  falsehood  that  men 
would  naturally  and  easily  fall  in  with  it,  and  their 
pliant  convictions  be  secured  without  any  great  sac- 
rifice of  their  natural  inclinations.  This  is  the  way 
in  which  false  religions  have  ever  obtained  their 


ITS  DISTINGUISHING  DOCTRINES.  139 

partial  and  temporary  ascendancy.  The  only  way 
in  which  they  oan  hope  for  success  is,  by  abstain- 
ing from  all  serious  conflict  with  the  prepossessions 
of  men ;  by  forbearing  to  contend  with  them ;  by 
freely  accommodating  themselves  to  their  previous 
habits  of  thought. 

The  Scriptures  pursue  directly  the  opposite 
course ;  they  do  so  deliberately,  and  with  a  full 
view  of  the  difficulties  which  they  must  encounter. 
Instead  of  anticipating  the  kind  regards  and  compla- 
cency of  men,  they  count  on  their  neglect,  their 
disesteem  •  they  even  predict  their  hostility,  their 
contempt.  They  have  a  controversy  with  men  in 
the  very  doctrines  they  teach.  "  Think  not,"  says 
Jesus  of  Nazareth,  "  that  I  am  come  to  send  peace 
on  the  earth:  I  came  not  to  send  peace,  but  a 
sword."  In  its  own  nature,  his  religion  is  a  religion 
of  peace ;  but  it  has  warring  elements  to  contend 
with.  When  we  advert  to  the  world  to  which  it  is 
addressed,  to  the  spirit  to  which  it  is  opposed,  to  the 
powers  of  darkness  with  which  it  is  professedly 
brought  into  collision,  we  see  that  it  has  conflicts. 
It  is  the  spirit  of  truth  contending  with  every  form 
of  long  sanctioned  error ;  the  spirit  of  good  contend- 
ing with  the  spirit  of  evil ;  the  spirit  of  Christ  con- 
tending with  the  spirit  of  the  world.  It  is  a  remedial 
process ;  and  in  order  to  be  effectual,  the  remedy  is 
severe.  It  is  a  purifying  process ;  there  are  filthy 
and  stagnant  waters  that  must  be  disturbed ;  their 
very  stench  must  go  up,  before  an  unobstructed  and 
clear  channel  is  made  for  the  river  of  life  to  run 


140  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

through.  It  is  a  neutralizing  process,  in  which  het- 
erogeneous and  repulsive  elements  meet  and  effer- 
vesce, before  the  inwrought  elements  of  evil  in  the 
human  heart  are  worked  off.  It  is  not  peace,  so 
long  as  man  is  the  enemy  of  God,  and  error  is 
opposed  to  truth.  It  is  not  peace,  so  long  as  the 
"  prince  of  this  world"  erects  his  standard,  and  mar- 
shals his  legions  wherever  the  proclamation  is  made 
for  the  guilty  and  the  lost  to  enlist  under  the  banner 
of  the  redeeming  Saviour. 

It  is  not  strange,  therefore,  that  it  contains  truths 
which  men  are  at  war  with.  In  resisting  and  repel- 
ling its  claims,  the  learned  have  exhausted  their 
learning,  and  the  scoffing  their  wit  and  ridicule ;  the 
great  and  the  mighty,  their  influence  and  power ; 
while  the  mass  of  men  to  whom  these  truths  have 
been  addressed,  have  denounced  them.  It  is  scarcely 
conceivable  that  impostors  would  have  proposed  such 
a  system  of  doctrines.  It  is  impossible  that  they 
could  have  any  hope  of  patronage  in  so  doing.  The 
most  presumptuous  impostor  in  the  world  could  not 
hope,  by  such  teaching,  to  carry  the  hearts  of  men. 
He  must  have  known  that  such  truths  would  have 
been  everywhere  spoken  against,  provoked  opposi- 
tion and  obloquy,  and  been  subversive  of  his  object. 
It  is  absurd  to  suppose  that  an  impostor  would 
invent  a  religion,  towards  which  the  human  heart 
exhibits  such  a  morbid  and  hostile  sensitiveness,  that 
instead  of  falling  in  with  it,  it  should  uniformly  fall 
out  with  it.  Such  a  religion,  instead  of  finding 
friends  and  patrons,  would  not  find  a  nook  or  corner 


ITS   DISTINGUISHING  DOCTRINES. 

in  the  natural  heart  of  man,  where  it  would  be 
greeted  with  an  honest  welcome. 

If  the  writers  of  the  Scriptures  were  impostors, 
not  only  was  their  enterprise  desperate,  but  they 
must  have  foreseen  it  would  be  so.  They  might  as 
well  have  undertaken  to  build  a  city  on  the  waves 
of  the  ocean,  as  have  hoped  to  establish  such  a 
religion  in  the  hearts  of  men  and  in  this  apostate 
world,  unless  it  were  from  God.  The  human  heart 
never  would  have  submitted  to  such  truths  as  these, 
had  they  not  come  from  God.  No  more  than  the 
ancient  Hebrews  would  have  submitted  to  have  been 
conducted  by  Moses,  unless  God  had  been  with  him  ; 
no  more  than  they  would  have  submitted  to  their 
burdensome  rites  and  ceremonies,  their  costly  sacri- 
fices and  oblations,  unless  they  had  been  of  Divine 
appointment ;  no  more  than  they  would  have  con- 
sented to  their  reluctant  invasion  of  the  land  of 
Canaan,  and  their  slaughter  of  its  inhabitants,  unless 
they  had  been  commanded,  and  scourged,  and  forced 
to  it  by  the  God  of  heaven — would  such  truths  as 
those  of  which  we  have  spoken  have  found  a  dwell- 
ing among  men,  had  they  not  carried  with  them  the 
evidence  that  they  were  not  of  human  invention, 
but  the  truth  of  God.  No  more  than  Moses,  if  he 
had  been  an  impostor,  could  have  enforced  his  own 
personal  authority  upon  the  stiff-necked  and  rebel- 
lious Jews,  could  prophets  and  apostles,  in  revealing 
and  enforcing  such  truths,  have  hoped  for  the  least 
success,  had  they  not  come  to  men  with  the  con- 
vincing demonstration  that  they  came  in  the  name, 


142  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

and  by  the  authority,  of  the  great  God.  Just  as 
Moses  found  it  necessary  to  demonstrate  his  divine 
legation  by  signs  and  wonders,  and  by  that  memo- 
rable series  of  miracles,  both  of  judgment  and  mercy  ; 
did  the  prophets  and  the  apostles  find  it  necessary  to 
establish  their  commission  by  similar  miracles,  and 
thus  give  these  unwelcome  truths  the  sanction  of 
God's  presence  and  authority. 

The  reason  why  these,  and  similar  truths,  are 
not  fatal  to  the  successful  propagation  of  Christianity, 
is  not  that  men  naturally  love  them ;  it  is  because 
they  are  not  of  human  origin,  and  are  associated 
with  the  mighty  power  of  their  Divine  Author, 
giving  all  their  splendid  triumphs  to  truth  and  prin- 
ciple. If  they  are  the  life  and  vigor  of  Christianity, 
it  is  because  they  are  "  the  wisdom  of  God,  and  the 
power  of  God."  Upon  the  hypothesis  that  Chris- 
tianity is  a  work  of  human  invention,  it  is  impossi- 
ble to  account  for  the  fact,  that  it  has  triumphed 
over  such  internal  obstacles.  So  far  from  possessing 
anything  in  common  with  the  spirit  and  tendency 
of  human  nature,  it  is  diametrically  opposed  to  them  ; 
they  are  jarring,  warring  elements,  nor  do  they  come 
in  contact  without  coming  into  a  collision,  in 
which  the  one  or  the  other  is  the  complete  victor. 
Never  was  a  system  less  conciliating  to  the  human 
heart,  or  less  accommodating  to  the  deep-rooted  pre- 
judices of  men.  Never  could  it  have  found  a  resting 
place  in  the  bosom  of  Jew  or  Gentile,  had  it  not 
been  associated  with  the  power  of  God.  Jewish 
Pharisees,  and  heathen  sages,  would  never  have  be- 


ITS  DISTINGUISHING  DOCTRINES.  143 

come  converts  to  it,  had  it  been  a  mere  human 
production.  It  despoiled  them  of  everything — their 
self-confidence,  their  public  veneration,  their  wealth, 
their  honors,  their  offices,  and  their  employments  ; 
nor  did  any  of  them  embrace  it  but  at  the  expense 
of  all  that  the  world  holds  dear.  It  is  because  it 
was  clothed  with  a  divine  commission,  and  came  as 
the  power  of  God  to  salvation,  that  in  the  hands  of 
men  who  themselves  were  looked  upon  as  the  off- 
scouring  of  their  race,  it  made  its  way  through  the 
world ;  and  contrary  to  all  the  forebodings  of  its 
enemies,  and  all  the  laws  of  a  merely  human  prob- 
ability, it  became  the  religion  of  the  lofty  and  the 
humble,  of  provinces  and  kingdoms,  till  it  effected 
the  most  extraordinary  revolution  in  human  affairs, 
was  reverenced  by  the  common  people,  and  en- 
throned in  the  palaces  of  princes.  Its  triumphs  were 
triumphs  over  ignorance  and  knowledge,  idolatry 
and  superstition,  power  and  weakness — in  a  word, 
over  all  the  vices  and  all  the  passions  of  men,  in 
those  unholy  combinations  which  gave  a  new  direc- 
tion to  human  thought,  and  exerted  a  paramount 
influence  over  all  the  secret  springs  of  human  con- 
duct. 

When  the  Founder  of  Christianity  had  com- 
pleted his  great  work  on  the  earth,  and  was  about 
to  return  to  the  heaven  from  which  he  came,  he  left 
these  and  other  kindred  truths  as  the  great  moral 
machinery  by  which  his  kingdom  was  to  be  estab- 
lished. He  had  accomplished  all  that  was  neces- 
sary to  be  accomplished  by  his  incarnation  and 


144  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

death,  and  it  only  remained  for  him  to  give  direc- 
tions to  his  followers  for  the  wise  and  successful 
conduct  of  this  great  enterprise  in  all  future  time. 
It  is  a  beautiful  view  which  here  presents  itself.  It 
was  his  last  direction ;  it  was  all  he  had  to  utter  for 
the  guidance  of  future  ages.  And  what  was  it  that 
he  uttered  ?  "  Go  ye  into  all  the  world,  and  preach 
the  Gospel  to  every  creature."  The  instrumentality 
on  which  he  relied  for  the  progressive  renovation 
of  the  world,  was  no  other  than  the  truths  of  his 
Gospel.  He  knew  how  unwelcome  they  were,  and 
would  be  to  the  heart  of  man  ;  but  his  language  was, 
Go  and  preach  them.  He  knew  that  the  "  heathen 
would  rage,  and  the  people  imagine  a  vain  thing  ;" 
he  knew  that  these  truths  would  be  "  despised  and 
rejected  of  men,"  a  "  stone  of  stumbling  and  rock 
of  offence  :"  still  this  was  his  language,  Go  and 
preach  them.  He  knew  that  they  would  be  "  a 
sign  that  shall  be  spoken  against,  that  the  thoughts 
of  many  hearts  might  be  revealed ;"  he  knew  that 
they  would  be  "  seen  and  hated,"  "  hated  without 
a  cause  ;"  but  his  only  direction  was,  Go  and  preach 
them.  He  knew  that  they  would  encounter  the 
sophisms  of  unbelief,  the  contempt  and  scorn,  the 
unrelenting  hostility,  and  the  infuriate  rage  of  a 
world  that  lieth  in  wickedness ;  but  he  did  not 
modify  the  injunction,  Go  and  preach  them.  He 
knew  that  different  ages  of  the  world,  and  different 
communities,  would  express  their  hostility  to  them 
in  different  forms.  He  knew  that  they  would  be 
subject  to  a  chilling  neglect  and  indifference,  and 


ITS  DISTINGUISHING  DOCTRINES.  145 

a  disheartening  formality  and  worldliness ;  and  he 
knew  also  that  there  would  be  seasons  when  hatred 
would  be  added  to  indifference,  indignity  to  hatred  ; 
when  persecution  would  erect  her  gibbet,  set  up  her 
rack,  and  light  her  fires ;  yet.  Go  and  preach  them, 
was  his  unaltered  command.  But  because  he  knew 
these  things,  he  did  not  leave  them  to  prosecute  the 
work  alone.  No :  the  gates  of  hell  would  let  out 
their  legions,  to  quench  their  rage  in  the  blood  of 
the  saints :  truths  that  would  provoke  such  enmity 
could  be  effectual  only  as  they  were  associated  with 
the  power  of  their  Divine  Author :  and  though  he 
altered  not,  relaxed  not  the  command,  Go  preach, 
he  superadded  the  promise,  "  Lo,  I  am  with  you, 
even  to  the  end  of  the  world."  Never,  if  he  were 
an  impostor,  did  he  act  so  weak  a  part  as  when  he 
uttered  such  words  as  these.  They  were  words, 
which  to  the  eye  of  sense  it  was  impossible  to  fulfil. 
If  his  immediate  Disciples  might  ever  have  been 
tempted  to  look  upon  him  as  a  vile  deceiver,  it 
was  then. 

But  he  was  no  deceiver.  Christianity  is  true ; 
and  he  "  who  liveth  and  was  dead,  and  is  alive 
forevermore,"  is  with  Christianity.  As  a  system 
of  truth,  she  is  prepared  for  this  collision  with  an 
opposing  world.  She  looked  for  it  then ;  she  looks 
for  it  still.  She  meant  to  be  the  aggressor ;  this 
aggressive  character  has  marked  her  entire  progress. 
But  it  was  then,  and  it  is  still,  with  the  assured 
confidence,  that  though  the  pen  and  the  sword 
would  be  wielded  against  her,  and  her  progress 

Bibls  not  of  Man 


146  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

would  be  through  deep  waters,  she  would  ultimately 
triumph. 

Such   is    the    argument,    however    imperfectly 
illustrated,  for  the  divine  origin  of  the  Scriptures, 
from  the  peculiar  and  distinguishing  doctrines  they 
reveal.     We  have  seen  what  these  doctrines  are,  not 
in  the  form  of  any  human  expositions,  but  in  the 
language   of   the   Bible  itself.     We  have  seen  the 
frankness,  the  unreserved  honesty  and  boldness  with 
which  they  are  revealed.     We  have  seen  the  prom- 
inent place  they  occupy  in  the  sacred  pages.     We 
have  seen  how  unwelcome  and  obnoxious  they  are 
to  the  human  heart,  and  how  absolutely  fatal  they 
are  to  the  success  of  any  system  of  religion  that 
has  not  God  for  its  author.     We  leave  every  fair 
and  ingenuous  mind  to  decide,  whether  an  impostor 
would  have  been  stupid  enough  to  have  inculcated 
such  truths ;  and  whether  a  religion,  so  humbling, 
that,  had  it  been  false,  it  could  not  have  survived 
one  poor  hour,  is  not  of  God.     Truths  so  opposed 
to  the  prejudices  of  men,   so  much  at  war  with 
human  selfishness  and  pride,  could  never  have  been 
of  human  invention.     It  is  irrational  to  suppose  that 
any  man,  or  set  of  men,  any  one  impostor,  or  suc- 
cession of  impostors,  would  have  concocted  a  system 
of  truths  to  which  the  human  mind  is,  and  ever  has 
been,  so  hostile.     These  great  doctrines  of  grace,  so 
humbling  to  the  sinner,  and  giving  as  they  do  all 
the  glory  to  God,  fully  and  faithfully  exhibited  and 
enforced,  must  be  regarded  as  among  the  strong 
proofs  of  the  inspiration  of  the  Scriptures. 


ITS   DISTINGUISHING   DOCTRINES.  147 

The  infidelity  of  the  present  age  seems  sensible 
of  this,  and  betrays  its  weakness,  and  at  the  same 
time  its  subtilty,  by  assailing  not  so  much  the  truth 
and  authenticity  of  Christianity,  as,  by  its  altered 
mode  of  warfare,  assailing  these  great  and  essen- 
tial truths.  Demolish  these,  and  Christianity  is  no 
more.  It  is  conceding  too  much  to  infidels  to  allow 
them  to  believe  the  Bible,  and  at  the  same  time  re- 
ject its  fundamental  truths.  "  If  our  Gospel  be  hid, 
it  is  hid  to  them  that  are  lost."  It  is  conceding  too 
much  for  our  argument  to  blink  these  truths.  One 
of  the  best  arguments  for  the  divine  origin  of  the 
Scriptures,  will  be  found  in  a  fearless  exhibition  of 
all  their  peculiar  doctrines.  The  bold  outlines,  the 
energetic  truths  of  the  Bible,  are  essential  to  a  clear 
and  impressive  statement  of  the  argument  itself. 
There  are  deep  and  difficult  truths  revealed  in  this 
Book  of  God,  which  some  writers  of  great  ability 
have  taken  leave  to  suppress  ;  while  the  little  which 
their  argument  gains  in  popularity  by  so  doing,  it 
loses  in  strength.  To  overlook  them  is  but  present- 
ing the  argument  shorn  of  its  glory.  They  are  the 
key  which  introduces  the  reader  to  this  temple  of 
truth ;  shows  its  symmetry,  strength,  and  beauty, 
and  indicates  its  Divine  Builder.  An  impartial  and 
thinking  reader,  in  inspecting  the  treatises  to  which 
we  refer,  cannot  help  feeling  that  their  authors  were 
embarrassed  by  their  hesitation  to  give  prominence 
to  the  great  and  distinguishing  doctrines  of  super- 
natural revelation. 

That  men  do  not  like  these  doctrines  is  no  rea- 


148  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

son  why  they  should  not  have  a  place  in  the  argu- 
ment, but  a  weighty  reason  why  they  ought  not  to 
be  suppressed.  The  argument  needs  the  augmented 
force  of  these  doctrines ;  it  is  an  emasculated  argu- 
ment without  them.  Without  them,  the  evidence 
of  its  divine  origin,  that  is  inherent  in  the  Bible 
itself,  is  essentially  defective.  To  my  own  mind  it 
seems  as  if  the  man  who  rejects  these,  must  reject 
the  Bible  itself;  without  them,  it  is  very  little  in  ad- 
vance of  natural  religion.  Let  a  man  call  in  question 
the  infinite  holiness  and  sovereignty  of  God ;  let 
him  deny  his  comprehensive  purposes;  let  him  reject 
the  Divinity  and  Atonement  of  Christ,  and  the  sove- 
reign and  special  influences  of  the  Spirit  in  renewing 
and  sanctifying  the  people  of  God ;  let  him  discard 
the  essential  difference  between  the  righteous  and 
the  wicked,  and  suspend  in  an  obscure  and  dubious 
atmosphere  the  doctrine  of  future  and  eternal  re- 
wards and  punishments,  and  wherein  will  his  Chris- 
tianity differ  from  that  of  modern  neologists  ?  The 
true  method  of  exhibiting  the  self-evidencing  power 
of  the  Scriptures,  is  by  faithfully  unfolding  "the 
whole  mind  of  God."  Then  only  does  the  supreme 
intelligence-  of  its  Author  exhibit  itself,  and  his  in- 
finite greatness  and  goodness  shine  forth  in  tracing 
out  new  paths  of  thought,  and  opening  channels  of 
affection,  never  discovered  by  human  reason.  Infi- 
delity is  perpetually  changing  its  form.  The  truths 
which  some  modern  infidels  profess  to  learn  from  the 
Bible,  Gibbon,  Hume  and  Paine,  learned  from  the 
light  of  nature.  The  same  objections  which  these 


ITS   DISTINGUISHING   DOCTRINES. 

bold  and  old-fashioned  infidels  urged  against  the 
Bible  itself,  modern  neologists  urge  against  these 
great  and  essential  truths.  '  These  ancient  and  mod- 
ern opposers  of  God's  truth  are  in  closer  alliance 
than  the  latter  are  willing  to  acknowledge  ;  they  are 
fellow-laborers  in  the  same  calling.  It  is  no  uncom- 
mon complaint  from  certain  sources,  that  these  great 
truths  make  men  infidels,  while  they  only  show 
them  to  be  so.  Modern  infidels  have  no  quarrel 
with  Christianity,  when  expurgated  of  these  distinc- 
tive doctrines ;  for  as  long  as  these  doctrines  remain, 
they  proclaim  their  Author  to  be  Divine. 


150  THE   BIBLE  NOT   OF   MAN. 


CHAPTER  V- 

THE  RELIGION  OF  THE   BIBLE  A  PROOF  OF  ITS 
DIVINE  ORIGIN. 

To  a  being  born  for  immortality,  it  is  in  every 
view  an  inquiry  of  the  first  importance,  whether  he 
possesses  true  religion.  If  he  does  possess  it,  the 
final  termination  of  his  earthly  career  will  be  a  glori- 
ous issue.  "  When  the  Chief  Shepherd  shall  appear, 
he  shall  receive  a  crown  of  glory  which  fadeth  not 
away."  Every  consideration  in  the  universe  may 
well  lead  such  a  man  to  triumph.  "  The  redeemed 
of  the  Lord  shall  return,  and  come  with  singing 
unto  Zion ;  everlasting  joy  shall  be  upon  their  head  : 
they  shall  obtain  gladness  and  joy ;  and  sorrow  and 
sighing  shall  flee  away." 

But  in  deciding  the  question,  whether  he  pos- 
sesses true  religion,  he  must  first  decide  what  true 
religion  is.  On  this  point  there  is  no  small  diversity 
of  opinion  throughout  this  wide  world.  There  is 
the  religion  of  Infidelity,  as  it  exists  in  Christian 
lands ;  there  is  the  religion  of  Nature  and  tradition, 
in  all  the  forms  of  polytheism  and  pagan  idolatry ; 
there  is  the  religion  of  Mahomed  ;  there  is  the  relig- 
ion of  the  Chinese  philosopher  Confucius ;  there  is  the 
religion  of  Budhism,  prevailing  throughout  the  Bur- 


ITS   RELIGION. 

man  empire  and  all  the  countries  between  Bengal 
and  China ;  and  there  are,  to  a  great  extent,  other  re- 
ligions in  different  nations  and  tribes  of  men.  It  will 
hardly  be  contended  that  any  of  those  just  specified 
are  worthy  of  confidence.  Every  one  of  them,  to  a 
greater  or  less  extent,  is  a  system  of  idolatry,  unless 
it  be  the  religion  of  Mahomed ;  and  it  has  often  been 
shown,  that  in  those  particulars  in  which  the  religion 
of  the  Koran  has  preeminence  above  paganism,  it 
has  borrowed  its  features  from  the  Sacred  Writings. 

The  word  religion,  in  its  broadest  and  most 
comprehensive  sense,  is  any  system  of  faith  and 
worship.  In  this  sense,  the  word  comprehends  the 
belief  and  worship  of  all  ages,  all  nations,  all  climes, 
which  recognize  a  superior  power,  or  powers,  which 
govern  the  world.  Every  religion  has  its  peculiari- 
ties :  and  from  its  peculiarities  we  learn  whether  it 
is  of  human,  or  Divine  origin. 

In  addition  to  the  religions  above  mentioned, 
there  is  THE  RELIGION  OF  THE  BIBLE  ; — a  religion 
which  is  there  taught,  there  delineated,  and  there 
exemplified ;  and  one  which  is  found  nowhere  else, 
save  where  the  Bible  exerts  its  influence  on  the  hu- 
man character.  1  propose  in  the  present  chapter  to 
institute  the  inquiry,  if  THE  RELIGION  that  is  deline- 
ated in  the  Bible,  be  not  proof  of  its  Divine  origin? 

This  religion  is  not  revealed  equivocally,  or 
darkly,  or  partially  ;  but  stands  forth  prominently  to 
the  inspection  of  every  reader.  Every  man  who  has 
the  Bible  in  his  hands,  can  see  it  and  understand 
what  it  is.  What  then  are  its  leading  characteristics, 


152  THE  BIBLE  NOT   OF  MAN. 

and  what  is  the  evidence  they  furnish  that  the 
author  of  such  a  religion  is  the  God  of  heaven  ? 

It  is  important  to  our  argument  to  remark,  that 
in  this  inquiry  we  go  not  beyond  the  instructions 
of  the  Bible  itself.  The  question  is  not,  what  was 
the  religion  of  the  early  Christian  fathers ;  nor  what 
was  the  religion  of  the  dark  ages;  nor  what  the 
religion  of  the  reformed  churches ;  nor  what  is  your 
religion,  or  my  religion ;  but  what  is  the  religion  of 
the  Bible  ?  It  is  equally  important  also  to  bear  in 
mind,  that  we  do  not  here  institute  the  inquiry, 
what  is  the  religion  which  the  Bible  requires;  for 
this  we  have  already  done  in  a  preceding  chapter ; 
but,  what  is  the  religion  which  the  Bible  delineates 
and  exemplifies  ?  The  religion  which  the  Bible  re- 
quires, and  the  religion  which  it  actually  produces, 
may  not  be  perfectly  identified ;  while  the  latter 
may  furnish  convincing  evidence  that  it  is  of  Divine, 
and  not  of  human  origin. 

1.  We  remark,  then,  that  the  religion  delineated 
and  exemplified  in  the  Bible,  is  a  religion  founded 
in  knowledge.  It  is  not  the  offspring  of  igno- 
rance ;  the  basis  of  it  is  the  knowledge  of  the  truth. 
Knowledge  alone  does  not  constitute  it,  though 
without  knowledge  it  does  not  exist.  "Though  I 
speak  with  the  tongues  of  men  and  of  angels,  and 
though  I  understand  all  mysteries  and  all  knowledge, 
and  have  not  charityj"  I  am  nothing."  Correct  opin- 
ions of  Christianity  do  not  of  themselves  insure  the 
existence  of  Christianity.  To  understand  the  truths 
of  the  Bible  as  a  system,  or  science ;  to  be  deeply 


ITS  RELIGION.  153 

read  and  versed  in  them ;  to  bring  to  them  learning 
and  labor,  and  even  a  natural  fondness  for  moral  re- 
search and  disquisition,  are  not  a  sufficient  pledge  of 
the  existence  and  power  of  piety  in  any  individual 
bosom.  But  while  the  Bible  is  faithful  in  this  cau- 
tion, it  at  the  same  time  explicitly  instructs  us,  that 
the  knowledge  of  the  truth  is  indispensable  to  true 
godliness.  A  piety  that  is  the  fruit  of  ignorance, 
finds  no  countenance  in  the  Author  of  this  instruc- 
tive volume,  no  place  in  its  sacred  pages.  When  it 
describes  the  character  of  an  irreligious  and  ungodly 
world,  it  is  a  community  where  "  there  is  none  that 
understandeth."  When  it  describes  the  condition 
in  which  all  true  Christians  once  were,  its  language 
is,  "  Ye  were  once  darkness,  but  now  are  ye  light  in 
the  Lord."  It  represents  them  as  "  turned  from 
darkness  to  light ;"  as  "  brought  out  of  darkness  into 
God's  marvellous  light ;"  and  as  receiving  "  the 
light  of  the  knowledge  of  the  glory  of  God  in  the 
face  of  Jesus  Christ."  Their  progress  in  grace  is 
represented  as  standing  abreast  with  their  progress 
in  knowledge  ;  their  upward  path  as  a  luminous  and 
bright  path.  They  are  represented  as  "  filled  with 
the  knowledge  of  God's  will  in  all  wisdom  and 
spiritual  understanding."  Their  minds  are  brought 
into  contact  with  the  truth  ;  their  religion  is  thus  a 
stable  and  dignified  religion ;  justly  entitled  to  the 
preeminence  of  being  the  "light  of  the  world;" 
penetrating  its  regions  of  gloomy  darkness,  and  ever 
opening  new  sources  of  wonder  and  praise. 

What  a  preeminence    over  all   other   religions, 

Bible  not  of  Man  *          7* 


154  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

coarse  and  low  as  they  once  were,  and  are  still !  All 
false  religions  require  ignorance  to  sustain  them ; 
ignorance  is  one  of  their  essential  elements.  Pagan 
worship  is  not  based  upon  the  knowledge  even  of 
its  own  religious  system.  Rude  ignorance,  and 
gloomy  superstition,  form  the  character  of  the  entire 
religion  of  the  pagan  world.  Their  "  understanding 
is  darkened  ;"  they  "  worship  they  know  not  what :" 
the  inscription  on  their  altars  is,  "  To  the  unknown 
God."  The  wisest  of  the  heathen  philosophers 
were  the  very  persons  who  most  deeply  felt,  and 
most  bitterly  bewailed  their  ignorance  on  all  moral 
subjects.  Cicero  tells  us,  that  there  was  a  class  of 
religious  teachers  in  Rome,  who  could  never  look 
into  one  another's  faces  without  laughing ;  so  deep 
was  their  consciousness  that  their  teachings  were 
preposterous.  Reason  and  common  sense  are  actually 
scandalized  by  their  absurdities.  Men  are  shut  out 
from  all  that  is  worthy  of  the  name  of  religion,  so 
long  as  they  are  cut  off  from  the  knowledge  of  the 
truth.  The  religion  of  the  Bible  is  the  religion  of 
light.  God  is  the  source  of  light ;  himself  "  the 
Father  of  lights  j"  and  it  will  forever  remain  among 
the  evidences  in  favor  of  the  divine  origin  of  the 
Scriptures,  that  the  religion  they  inculcate  is  learned 
by  studying  the  lessons  of  unequalled  wisdom. 

2.  Another  fact  in  relation  to  the  religion  of  the 
Bible  is,  that  it  is  the  religion  of  the  heart.  It  is  an 
inward  religion,  and  not  the  religion  of  mere  out- 
ward forms.  Its  work  is  not  done  when  it  has 
enlightened  the  understanding.  It  consists  in  "  re- 


ITS  RELIGION.  155 

ceiving  the  truth  in  the  love  of  it."  Its  object  is  to 
carry  the  heart ;  to  impart  efficacy  to  right  moral 
principles ;  to  control  the  affections,  as  well  as  the 
understanding ;  and  to  infuse  into  the  soul  a  mea- 
sure of  the  moral  excellence  of  its  Author.  It  does 
not  overlook  the  forms  of  piety,  but  they  are  so  few 
and  simple  as  to  become  the  natural  and  unstudied 
expressions  of  it,  and  are  valued  only  as  they  are 
expressions  of  the  internal  spirit.  There  is  no  char- 
acteristic of  the  religion  of  the  Bible  more  univer- 
sally, or  uniformly  inculcated,  than  this.  It  every- 
where insists  upon  right  intentions  as  indispensable 
to  the  performance  of  any  and  every  duty.  It  looks 
to  the  springs  of  action.  "  God  is  a  Spirit,  and  they 
that  worship  him  must  worship  him  in  spirit  and  in 
truth."  To  every  other  religious  service  its  wither- 
ing rebuke  is,  "  Who  hath  required  this  at  your 
hands  ?"  However  fair  the  outward  appearance,  it 
makes  no  account  of  the  most  fair  and  unblemished 
exterior,  unless  it  flows  from  right  principles  and 
impulses. 

And  what  are  these  principles  and  impulses  ? 
The  first  great  article  of  all  religion  is  that  which 
regulates  the  affections  towards  the  object  of  its 
worship.  True  religion  is  founded  in  the  relation 
which  men  sustain  towards  the  Supreme  Being.  In 
this  respect,  the  religion  of  the  Bible  is  an  intel- 
ligent and  effective  religion.  It  begins  with  God. 
The  most  compendious  expression  of  it  consists  in 
love  to  God.  This  ruling  affection  of  Heaven  is  here 
represented  as  the  ruling  passion  of  good  men  on  the 


THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

earth.  A  sense  of  duty  does  much  towards  forming 
the  religious  character  required  by  the  Bible;  but 
love  to  God  does  more.  Where  it  exists  at  all,  it 
is  the  strongest  affection  the  soul  ever  exercises. 
There  are  almost  endless  ramifications  of  this  radical 
principle,  branching  out  in  emotions,  which,  while 
they  have  a  specific,  partake  of  the  same  generic 
character. 

Sometimes  they  assume  the  form  of  holy  fear 
and  reverence ;  and  then  their  language  is,  "  Who 
shall  not  fear  thee,  O  Lord,  and  glorify  thy  name, 
for  thou  only  art  holy !" 

Sometimes  it  is  the  form  of  confidence  ;  a  confi- 
dence which  gathers  strength  from  every  new  view 
of  the  Divine  character,  and  every  fresh  experience 
and  conviction  of  his  illimitable  resources  of  wisdom, 
power  and  love.  All  the  imagery  of  nature  seems  to 
be  put  in  requisition,  in  order  to  furnish  appropriate 
emblems  of  God's  excellence,  or  a  fitting  expression 
of  their  confidence  in  him.  "  The  Lord  God  is  a 
sun  and  shield ;  he  will  give  grace  and  glory ;  no 
good  thing  will  he  withhold  from  them  that  walk 
uprightly."  Image  after  image  is  multiplied,  and 
they  crowd  upon  one  another  as  though  the  thoughts 
and  affections  could  not  find  utterance.  "  The  Lord 
is  my  Rock,  and  my  Fortress,  and  my  Deliverer; 
my  God,  my  Strength,  in  whom  I  will  trust ;  my 
buckler,  and  the  horn  of  my  salvation,  and  my  high 
tower  /" 

Sometimes  these  emotions  rise  to  joy  and  trans- 
port, and  the  subjects  of  them  are  heard  to  say,  "  I 


ITS  RELIGION.  157 

will  rejoice  in  the  Lord,  and  glory  in  the  Holy  One 
of  Israel :"  "I  will  greatly  rejoice  in  the  Lord  ;  my 
soul  shall  be  joyful  in  my  God."  Then  again, 
breaking  out  in  ecstasies  of  joy,  they  sing,  "  Blessed 
be  the  Lord  God,  the  God  of  Israel,  who  only  doeth 
wondrous  things ;  and  blessed  be  his  glorious  name 
forever ;  and  let  the  whole  earth  be  filled  with  his 
glory :  Amen  and  amen !"  And  then,  as  though 
their  own  lips  were  mute,  and  their  praise  too  inex- 
pressive, they  invoke  all  inanimate  nature  as  well  as 
"everything  that  hath  breath,"  to  the  delightful 
employment  of  praising  God. 

If  from  these  emotions  towards  God,  we  advert 
to  those  which  the  Bible  describes  towards  sin,  and 
the  character  of  men  as  sinners,  we  discover  a  spirit 
that  is  altogether  peculiar  to  the  piety  there  deline- 
ated. There  is  something  strongly  marked  in  those 
religious  emotions  which  good  men  are  here  repre- 
sented as  exercising  in  view  of  their  own  personal 
vileness.  They  imply  the  hatred  of  sin  on  account 
of  its  own  intrinsic  turpitude  ;  sorrow  for  it  as  com- 
mitted against  God ;  unfeigned  self-abasement  be- 
cause it  is  a  violation  of  his  law ;  and  turning  from 
it  unto  God,  through  Jesus  Christ.  "  O  my  God,  I 
am  ashamed,  and  blush  to  lift  up  my  face  to  thee, 
my  God ;  for  our  iniquities  have  increased  over  our 
head,  and  our  trespass  has  grown  up  unto  the  heav- 
ens." "  O  Lord,  righteousness  belongeth  unto  thee, 
but  unto  us  confusion  of  face,  as  at  this  day." 
"  Against  thee,  thee  only,  have  I  sinned,  and  done 
this  evil  in  thy  sight :  that  thou  mightest  be  justified 


158  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

when  thou  speakest,  and  be  clear  when  thou  judgest." 
"  I  have  heard  of  thee  by  the  hearing  of  the  ear  ;  but 
now  mine  eye  seeth  thee  :  wherefore  I  abhor  myself, 
and  repent  in  dust  and  ashes." 

Another  peculiarity  in  these  inward  principles 
and  impulses,  is  the  faith  Avhich  the  Scriptures 
exemplify.  They  speak  largely  of  a  principle  of 
conduct,  a  strong  internal  affection,  which  consists 
in  an  affectionate  and  active  confidence  in  the 
veracity  and  promise  of  God.  There  are  things 
apprehended  and  rested  upon  by  the  faith  of  the 
Bible,  which  "  eye  hath  not  seen,  nor  ear  heard,  nor 
hath  entered  into  the  heart  of  man."  It  is  a  faith 
which  realizes  the  existence  of  the  only  living  and 
true  God  in  the  grandeur  and  glory  of  his  creation, 
in  the  wisdom,  goodness,  and  power  of  his  provi- 
dence, and  in  the  method  and  work  of  his  grace.  It 
recognizes  him  everywhere  and  in  all  things ;  every- 
where seeing  and  enjoying  him ;  everywhere  walk- 
ing with  him,  hearing  a  voice  Avhich  nothing  else 
hears,  seeing  a  hand  which  nothing  else  can  see, 
and  discovering  that  heart  of  Infinite  love  which 
nothing  else  discovers.  •"  V 

There  is  no  burden  of  sin  from  which  the  faith 
of  the  Bible  does  not  deliver ;  no  fear  it  does  not 
dissipate  ;  no  spiritual  enemy  it  does  not  subdue  ;  no 
indifference  and  coldness  it  does  not  supersede  by 
the  fervor  of  a  glowing  love.  To  the  mind  that 
exercises  it,  it  is  the  bond  of  affiance  between  the 
creature  and  the  Creator,  the  sinner  and  his  Re- 
deemer, the  death  of  time  and  the  life  of  eternity, 


ITS  RELIGION.  159 

the  grave  and  the  resurrection,  this  low  earth  and 
the  heaven  where  he  expects  to  dwell.  It  is  "  the 
substance  of  things  hoped  for,  and  the  evidence  of 
things  not  seen."  It  is  his  strength  in  weakness, 
his  courage  in  difficulty,  his  victory  over  the  world. 
It  lives  under  the  light  of  God's  countenance ;  it 
dwells  near  his  throne  of  grace  ;  it  endures  as  seeing 
him  who  is  invisible.  To  repeat  its  language,  its 
assurance,  its  triumphs,  as  they  are  recorded  in  the 
Bible,  would  be  to  recite  no  small  portion  of  the 
entire  Scriptures. 

Such  are  the  principles  and  impulses  of  the 
religion  delineated  in  the  Scriptures.  They  form 
its  heart  and  soul ;  and  "God  giveth  it  a  body  as  it 
hath  pleased  him." 

Now  we  affirm  that  such  a  religion  never  was  of 
human  origin.  Human  religions,  all  the  world  over, 
have  respect  to  the  garb  and  manners  of  piety,  rather 
than  to  its  spirit  and  soul.  They  know  nothing  of 
the  heart  and  inward  life,  but  are  made  up  of  out- 
ward rites  and  ceremonies.  Ponderous  volumes  have 
been  written  with  the  view  of  illustrating  them  ;  but 
they  consist  ofJiistorical  annotations  and  curious  dis- 
courses upon  the  ceremonies  and  religious  customs 
of  the  various  heathen  nations.  Motives  are  not  at 
all  essential  to  the  religious  character,  and  even  the 
perfection,  of  their  rites.  There  is  not  to  be  found 
in  all  the  records  of  false  religions,  one  such  senti- 
ment as  this :  "  Having  a  form  of  godliness,  but 
denying  the  power  thereof:  from  such  turn  away." 
Their  prayers  are  vain  repetitions  to  some  imaginary 


160  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

deity;  their  most  meritorious  acts  are  bathing  in 
some  hallowed  river,  or  with  a  fool-hardy  and  vain- 
glorious exultation,  inflicting  some  cruel  torture  on 
their  own  bodies.  If  we  inquire  what  their  affec- 
tions are  towards  God,  they  are  "  without  God  in 
the  world."  They  had  gods  enough ;  they  had 
them  by  thousands;  but  what  emotions  did  they 
inspire,  and  to  what  heart  religion  did  they  impel 
the  worshippers  at  their  altars  ?  You  seek  for  relig- 
ion among  them,  and  what  do  you  see  ?  Piety,  rev- 
erence, love,  hope,  confidence,  joy  ?  No :  none  of 
these  ;  but  bacchanalian  revels,  and  every  form  and 
degree  of  disgusting  abomination.  We  do,  indeed, 
read  of  fearful  terrors  of  conscience  among  them; 
but  where  do  we  find  any  just  views  of  sin,  and  of 
that  inward  repentance  which  produces  outward 
reformation?  We  read  of  reason  and  philosophy, 
but  in  vain  do  we  look  for  the  faith  that  purifies  the 
heart  and  works  by  lover  Proud  reason  knows  no- 
thing of  it.  It  never  learned  to  "  become  a  fool,  that 
it  might  be  wise."  It  is  not  found  in  pagan  lands. 
Pagan  philosophy  is  a  stranger  to  the  simplicity,  the 
ardor,  the  strength  of  its  confidence  The  works 
of  nature  do  not  warrant  such  a  faith ;  reason  does 
not  discover  the  foundations  of  it ;  conscience,  be- 
nighted, wounded,  does  not  even  conjecture  that 
there  is  balm  for  all  her  wounds,  and  light  for  her 
midnight  darkness. 

Religions  that  are  thus  exhausted  in  outward 
rites,  and  never  reach  the  heart,  may  well  be  of 
human  origin.  The  religion  of  the  Bible  is  alto- 


ITS  RELIGION.  161 

gether  a  different  religion.  Apart  from  the  religion 
here  delineated,  and  the  religion  of  which  this  Book 
is  the  source,  there  is  no  such  heart  religion  in  the 
world,  nor  has  there  ever  been  any  such.  Men  who 
make  their  own  gods,  and  make  them  conformable 
to  their  own  practices  and  inclinations,  can  easily 
make  their  own  religion.  But  the  God  of  the  Bible 
is  not  the  work  of  men's  hands,  nor  is  the  religion 
of  the  Bible  of  this  low  origin. 

3.  Another  characteristic  of  the  religion  of  the 
Bible  is  its  unearthly  tendency.  This  is  a  feature 
which  gives  coloring  and  character  to  the  whole  relig- 
ious landscape  there  portrayed.  There  is  a  purity  and 
loftiness  of  sentiment  in  the  Bible,  a  heavenward 
tendency  and  unearthliness  in  the  best  affections  it 
delineates,  which  cannot  be  overlooked  by  the  atten- 
tive reader  of  its  pages,  and  which  cannot  be  mis- 
taken for  an  earth-born  religion.  This  Book  alone 
makes  a  due  estimate  of  the  things  that  are  seen  and 
the  things  that  are  unseen.  It  has  eternity  for  its 
object ;  nor  can  the  religious  character  it  produces 
be  understood,  save  as  it  is  directed  towards  invisi- 
ble and  eternal  realities,  and  becomes  progressively 
amalgamated  with  them. 

In  all  its  exemplifications  of  piety,  we  find  this 
state  of  mind  holding  an  observable  prominence. 
The  sensual  bias  and  tendency  are  here  counter- 
acted, and  a  spiritual  and  heavenly  one  imparted 
and  sustained.  The  mind  is  gradually  liberated 
from  the  degrading  and  disloyal  thraldom  of  earth, 
and  willingly,  cheerfully  made  subject  to  what  is 


162  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

"  incorruptible,  undefiled,  and  fadeth  not  away." 
False  estimates  of  this  world  are  here  rectified; 
heaven  is  the  mark  towards  which  all  its  disciples 
are  represented  as  pressing  forward  ;  the  governing 
principle  of  their  desires  and  conduct  is  their  prefer- 
ence of  the  future  to  the  present ;  and  the  conflict 
in  which  they  are  employed  involves  an  habitual 
resistance  to  the  usurpations  of  earth.  They  are 
"  strangers  and  pilgrims  on  the  earth,"  having  here 
"no  continuing  city."  With  Moses,  they  "choose 
rather  to  suffer  affliction  with  the  people  of  God, 
than  to  enjoy  the  pleasures  of  sin  for  a  season ;  for 
they  have  respect  to  the  recompense  of  reward." 
With  Paul  they  can  say,  "I  reckon  the  sufferings 
of  this  present  time  not  worthy  to  be  compared  with 
the  glory  which  shall  be  revealed  in  us."  Often  did 
they  look  upon  the  world  with  weariness,  and  even 
sadness;  often  had  they  a  "desire  to  depart  and  be 
with  Christ ;"  while  they  might  sometimes  be  heard 
to  say,  "  O  that  I  had  wings  like  a  dove ;  for  then 
would  I  fly  away,  and  be  at  rest !" 

We  affirm  that  such  a  religion  is  not  of  earth. 
Men  never  devised  it.  Their  uniform  character 
shows  that  such  a  religion  is  unnatural  to  them. 
All  experience  and  observation  show,  that  men  have 
always  inverted  the  true  order  of  things,  by  putting 
that  first  which  should  be  last,  and  that  last  which 
should  be  first.  The  Bible  alone  aims  at  suppress- 
ing and  subverting  this  anarchy,  by  restoring  the 
dominion  of  the  spiritual  and  superior  over  the  infe- 
rior and  the  sensual.  This  misrule  is  here  arrested 


ITS  RELIGION.  163 

and  broken,  and  in  a  process  of  decay  and  dissolu- 
tion. But  it  is  not  a^atural  process  to  man,  and 
does  not  fall  in  with  any  of  the  religions  of  his  de- 
vising. That  single  sentence,  "  Wherefore,  come 
ye  out  from  among  them,  and  be  ye  separate,  and 
touch  not  the  unclean  thing,  and  I  will  be  a  Father 
unto  you,  and  ye  shall  be  my  sons  and  daughters, 
saith  the  Lord  Almighty,"  is  itself  proof  of  a  relig- 
ion of  unearthly  origin.  The  memoirs  of  men  in 
all  lands  where  the  Bible  is  not  known,  or  where  it 
is  rejected,  or  where  it  is  not  obeyed,  furnish  no 
examples  of  such  a  religion.  Paganism  has  no  such 
biography,  because  it  has  no  such  heaven-descended 
principles.  "  Pure  religion  and  undefiled  before  God 
and  the  Father  is  this,  To  visit  the  fatherless  and 
widows  in  their  affliction,  and  to  keep  himself  un- 
spotted from  the  world."  No  school  of  philosophy 
ever  trained  up  a  single  pupil  thus,  or  ever  thus 
taught  the  world.  Men  are  not  accustomed  to  such 
a  religion,  even  in  thought ;  they  are  ignorant  of  it ; 
nor  is  there  any  original  portrait  of  it,  save  in  that 
Book  of  which  the  Spirit  of  God  is  the  Author. 

4.  Another  characteristic  of  the  religion  of  the 
Bible  is,  that  it  is  a  progressive  and  growing  relig- 
ion. Just  as  in  the  world  of  nature  there  is  first  the 
blade,  then  the  stalk,  then  the  ear,  then  the  full  corn 
in  the  ear ;  just  as  in  the  kingdom  of  Providence  na- 
tions and  all  their  improvements,  from  small  begin- 
nings, increase,  and  become  enlarged  and  extended  ; 
just  as  the  little  infant  from  a  helpless  babe  becomes 
a  vigorous  youth,  and  then  comes  to  matured  and 


154  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

well-informed  manhood — so  the  religion  of  the  Bible, 
both  in  the  heart  of  man,  dfll  in  the  world,  from  its 
resemblance  to  a  grain  of  mustard-seed,  comes  to 
resemble  an  overshadowing  and  fruitful  tree ;  and 
from  a  babe  in  knowledge  and  grace,  reaches  the 
"  measure  of  the  stature  of  the  fulness  of  Christ." 
By  nature,  the  soul  is  "  dead  in  trespasses  and  sins." 
On  the  first  communication  of  spiritual  life,  its  pulse 
is  feeble  and  languid,  its  perceptions  are  obscure, 
and  it  is  "  a  day  of  small  things."  But  he  "  who 
begins  this  work,  performs  it  until  the  day  of  Jesus 
Christ."  The  promise,  the  love,  and  the  power  of 
God  are  pledged  to  carry  it  forward.  Its  growth  is 
slow,  but  by  and  by  it  becomes  vigorous  and  strong. 
The  spiritual  appetite  becomes  healthful  and  manly  ; 
it  hungers  and  thirsts  after  righteousness ;  and  the 
riew-born  babe,  who  once  desired  the  sincere  milk 
of  the  word,  has  now  become  like  those  who  have 
need  of  strong  meat. 

It  is  not  a  mere  miniature  sketch  of  the  Divine 
likeness,  that  the  child  of  God  always  bears ;  but 
one  whose  features  are  destined  to  stand  out  in  bold 
relief,  and  more  and  more  like  a  full  and  beautifully 
adorned  portrait.  His  path  is  like  the  rising  light, 
which  "  shineth  more  and  more  unto  the  perfect 
day."  He  "  flourishes  like  the  palm-tree,  and  grows 
like  the  cedar  in  Lebanon."  He  "  grows  in  grace 
and  in  knowledge,"  "  following  on  to  know  the 
Lord,"  increasing  in  the  spirituality  of  his  affections 
and  in  the  uniformity  of  his  obedience.  He  pos- 
sesses a  growing  congeniality  with  the  mind  and 


ITS  RELIGION.  165 

will  of  God ;  in  his  ascending  progress  he  has  no 
appointed  place  of  rest ;  nor  does  he  stop  in  his 
career,  nor  is  he  satisfied,  until  he  awakes  in  the 
perfect  likeness  of  his  God  and  Saviour. 

This  is  a  most  beautiful  characteristic  of  the 
religion  of  the  Bible,  and  found  nowhere  else  save 
in  Bible  religion.  The  world  is  full  of  religion,  but 
it  is  not  such  a  religion.  There  is  arrested  atten- 
tion, and  awakened  thought  in  Christian  lands, 
where  there  is  no  growing  piety.  There  is  deep 
conviction,  and  agitating  fear,  where  there  is  no 
growing  piety.  There  are  transient  hope  and  mo- 
mentary joy,  and  the  cloud-like  goodness  of  Ephraim 
that  passeth  away,  where  there  is  no  growing  piety. 
There  are  hypocritical  professions,  where  there  is  no 
piety  at  heart,  because  there  is  none  that  is  perma- 
nent and  growing.  There  is  the  semblance  of  relig- 
ion in  lands  that  are  not  Christian ;  lands  that  are 
enticed  by  the  lying  wonders  of  the  Man  of  Sin ; 
lands  that  are  covered  with  the  veil  of  Mahomedan 
imposture ;  lands  that  have  no  other  influences  than 
the  glimmerings  of  natural  reason ;  but  it  does  not 
shine  out  with  a  less  varying  and  more  increasing 
light.  It  is  like  the  path  of  the  meteor,  which  no 
laws  of  the  moral  world  can  trace.  It  is  like  the 
sudden  flash  of  the  lightning,  which,  when  it  is 
over,  leaves  the  sky  in  deeper  darkness.  It  has  no 
perception  of  truth ;  no  nice  discrimination  of  mo- 
tives ;  no  tenderness  of  conscience ;  no  steady  and 
growing  exhibition  of  excellence.  It  is  like  the 
piety  of  a  few  thinking  and  thoughtful  minds  in  the 


THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

pagan  world ;  like  the  dreams  of  Socrates,  or  the 
hopes  of  Plato,  or  the  morals  of  Seneca ;  it  is  a  sud- 
den scintillation,  or  it  may  be  coruscation,  of  moral 
sentiment :  we  see  it  for  the  moment,  but  we  look 
again,  and  it  is  gone ;  it  is  all  darkness,  death,  and 
sin.  It  is  not  the  religion  of  the  Bible,  because  it  is 
not  of  God. 

5.  It  is  also  a  remarkable  feature  of  the  religion 
of  the  Bible,  and  one  which  has  no  unimportant 
place  in  our  argument,  that  with  all  these  excel- 
lencies which  we  have  mentioned,  the  religion 
which  was  possessed  by  the  saints  of  the  Old  and 
New  Testament  is  represented  in  the  Bible  as  an 
imperfect  religion.  It  professes  to  be  so  ;  and  it  is 
an  interesting  fact  that  it  makes  this  open  and  un- 
embarrassed avowal. 

We  might  naturally  suppose  that  a  religion  that 
comes  from  God  is  a  perfect  religion'.  This  religion 
itself  is  a  perfect  religion ;  but  the  votaries  of  it  are 
not  perfect.  When  infidels  impugn  the  religion  ex- 
emplified in  the  Scriptures,  because  it  is  not  sinless ; 
when  they  point  to  the  sins  of  good  men,  as  their 
character  is  delineated  in  the  Scriptures,  and  exult- 
ingly  demand,  Can  such  a  religion  be  from  God  ?•  we 
reply  to  these  sneers,  that  this  is  just  what  the 
Scriptures  themselves  would  lead  us  to  look  for. 
The  Bible  itself  teaches  us,  that  there  is  no  such 
thing  as  a  sinless  religion  among  men.  It  does 
indeed  require  a  perfect  religion.  There  is  no  abate- 
ment of  the  binding  precept,  no  relaxation  of  the 
injunction,  "  Be  ye  perfect  as  your  Father  in  heaven 


ITS  RELIGION.  167 

is  perfect."  If  this  Book  did  not  teach  us  that  it  is 
the  duty  of  men  to  become  perfect,  it  would  furnish 
a  good  and  solid  reason  for  wickedness ;  and  in  this 
fact  alone,  would  cany  on  the  face  of  it  conclusive 
evidence  that  it  is  not  of  divine  origin. 

It  is  in  its  own  nature  fitted  to  produce  a  perfect 
religion.  It  is  itself  a  perfect  system  of  truth  and 
duty,  and  did  men  perfectly  obey  it,  their  religion 
would  be  perfect.  But  it  nowhere  delineates  and 
exemplifies  a  perfect  religion  in  the  character  and 
conduct  of  men.  It  does  not  in  Abraham  ;  nor  in 
Lot ;  nor  in  Moses ;  nor  in  Aardn ;  nor  in  David,  in 
Jeremiah,  in  Peter,  in  Paul,  nor  in  any  of  the  char- 
acters to  which  it  attributes  such  high  and  command- 
ing moral  excellencies.  It  teaches  unequivocally, 
that  if  we  say  we  have  no  sin,  we  deceive  ourselves, 
and  "  the  truth  is  not  in  us."  The  best  men  of 
whom  it  speaks  are  described  as  imperfect  men  ;  the 
most  splendid  examples  of  heaven-born  piety  are 
there  represented  as  obscured  by  imperfection.  The 
saints  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  had  sins  to 
confess  and  bewail ;  sins  to  struggle  with  and  de- 
clensions to  mourn  over ;  sins  that  made  them  feel 
their  dependence,  and  drove  them  to  the  throne  for 
grace  to  help  in  the  time  of  need ;  and  sins  that 
filled  them  with  self-abasement  and  humiliation. 
The  Bible  makes  us  acquainted  with  just  such  a 
religion  as  in  fact  exists,  and  as  is  possessed  by  all 
true  Christians  in  every  age  of  the  world.  What  if 
it  had  been  otherwise,  and  the  Christians  they 
describe  were  all  of  such  high  attainments  as  to  be 


168  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

sinless  and  perfect  ?  How  ill-befitting  had  such  a 
book  been  as  a  revelation  from  God  to  fallen  man ! 
How  withering  to  the  hopes  of  the  best  of  men,  to 
be  driven  to  the  conclusion  that  they  have  no  relig- 
ion at  all,  because  they  have  not  a  perfect  and  sin- 
less religion  !  How  discordant  with  facts  as  existing 
in  the  entire  history  of  good  men,  had  such  a  reve- 
lation been !  How  untrue  !  How  false,  and  un- 
worthy of  credit !  There  is  wisdom,  there  is  truth 
in  a  revelation  that  delineates  human  goodness  as 
imperfect,  and  portrays  it  just  as  it  is — wisdom  and 
truth,  of  which  God  alone  is  the  Author. 

It  were  easy  to  enlarge  on  the  peculiar  nature  of 
the  religion  of  the  Bible,  and  in  every  one  of  its  char- 
acteristics point  out  the  evidence  of  its  divine  origin. 
Its  thousand  topics  of  thought,  thought  which  enters 
into  the  religious  character  of  which  it  speaks,  are 
topics  such  as  no  uninspired  mind  would  have  origi- 
nated. Its  jealous  God,  and  yet  its  God  of  conde- 
scending mercy — its  way  of  life  and  its  way  of 
death — its  Christian's  prospect  and  its  Christian's 
retrospect — his  wounded  spirit  caused  and  cured — 
his  self-suspicion  and  his  confidence — his  spiritual 
participation  of  Christ,  and  his  consequent  exposure 
to  the  hostility  of  the  world — his  watchfulness  and 
his  faithfulness — the  expansive  tendency  of  his  re- 
ligion, and  yet  his  peculiar  fellowship  with  the  com- 
munity of  the  faithful — his  enemies  and  his  con- 
quests— God  dwelling  in  him,  and  he  in  God — all 
these,  and  other  kindred  topics,  evince  the  religion 


ITS  RELIGION.  169 

of  the  Bible  to  be  one  of  higher  than  any  earthly 
parentage. 

The  process  too  by  which  the  religious  character 
lescribed  in  the  Bible  is  formed,  .is  there  distinctly 
marked  out.  It  is  a  resurrection  from  the  death 
of  sin ;  a  moral  renovation,  a  new  creation  by  the 
mighty  power  of  God.  It  is  not  the  production  of 
nature  ;  it  is  not  the  effect  of  moral  suasion  ;  it  is  not 
superinduced  by  human  ingenuity,  or  human  disci- 
pline ;  but  originates,  and  is  wrought  out  in  all  its 
parts  by  the  grace  and  power  of  God.  It  is  a  beau- 
tiful and  noble  moral  structure,  ornate  and  heavenly, 
whose  builder  and  maker  is  the  Holy  One,  who  is 
the  Author  of  the  new  heavens  and  the  new  earth 
wherein  dwelleth  righteousness.  For  such  a  relig- 
ion we  fearlessly  make  the  demand,  Is  it  from 
Heaven,  or  is  it  of  men?  Can  the  Book  which 
reveals  it  be  a  forgery  ?  Does  it  disclose  the  heart 
and  hand  of  an  impostor  ?  Did  men  ever  originate 
such  a  religion  as  this  ?  Can  there  be  a  doubt  of  its 
divine  origin  ? 

It  were  a  melancholy  fact,  if  the  reader  should 
revise  this  part  of  the  argument  in  favor  of  the 
divine  origin  of  the  Scriptures  with  no  personal 
searchings  of  heart.  Does  he  possess  this  religion ; 
a  religion  based  on  the  knowledge  of  the  truth,  yet 
more  than  knowledge — a  religion  not  irrespective 
of  form,  yet  more  than  form :  the  religion  of  love, 
of  reverence,  of  confidence,  of  joy  in  God  through 
Jesus  Christ,  of  repentance  and  self-abasement,  of 
faith  and  obedience  ?  Does  he  possess  this  spiritual 

Bible  not  of  Man.  8 


170  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

religion,  this  growing  religion,  and  though  imperfect, 
this  religion  which  is  the  fruit  of  God's  Spirit,  and 
which  alone  can  qualify  him  to  dwell  within  the 
courts  of  the  New  Jerusalem  ? 

If  he  does,  he  may  well  say,  "  By  the  grace  of 
God,  I  am  what  I  am ;"  if  he  does  not,  how  can  he 
be  happy,  how  can  he  be  at  rest?  Is  the  Bible 
fabulous  ?  Are  its  truths  fabulous  ?  Are  its  hopes 
fabulous  ?  Is  its  religion  fabulous  ?  Ah,  no.  There 
is  nothing  fabulous  about  this  Book  of  God.  God 
himself  is  no  fable.  It  is  no  fable  that  men  have 
incurred  his  displeasure.  The  eternity  to  which 
they  are  bound  is  no  fable.  Heaven  and  hell  are  no 
fables. 


ITS  UNITY.  171 


CHAPTER  VI, 

THE  UNITY  OF  THE  SCRIPTURES. 

THE  argument  to  which  the  reader's  attention  is 
now  directed,  is  the  agreement  or  concord  of  Scrip- 
ture with  itself,  or  the  consent  of  all  its  parts. 

It  may  at  the  outset  be  questioned,  whether  the 
fact  that  a  book  is  consistent  with  itself,  be  a  proof 
of  its  divine  original  ?  The  question  is  not  out  of 
place ;  it  is  a  fair  question.  While  it  is  true  that 
writers  whose  works  are  voluminous,  who  have 
written  largely  on  various  subjects,  or  on  different 
departments  of  the  same  subject,  and  more  especially 
if  their  works  have  employed  a  long  series  of  years, 
and  been  published  at  long  intervals,  are  very  apt  to 
slide  into  some  incoherencies,  if  not  some  downright 
and  palpable  contradictions ;  yet  must  it  be  conced- 
ed, that  there  are  human  authors  who  are  uniformly 
and  always  consistent  with  themselves.  The  mere 
circumstance,  therefore,  that  the  Bible  is  consistent 
with  itself,  is  a  slender  basis  on  which  to  found  an 
argument  for  its  divine  original,  if  we  at  the  same 
time  take  not  into  consideration  the  nature  of  this 
consistency,  and  the  circumstances  which  render  it, 
not  to  say  improbable,  but  impossible,  unless  the 
writers  of  it  were  directed  by  more  than  human  wis- 


172  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF   MAN. 

dom.  Our  design  is  to  show  that  there  exists  this 
agreement  of  the  Scripture  with  itself;  that  there  is 
something  in  the  nature  of  this  agreement,  which 
makes  it  such  a  moral  phenomenon,  that  it  never 
could  have  taken  place  in  the  history  of  uninspired 
men;  that  the  circumstances  of  it  are  such  as  to 
justify  and  demand  the  conclusion,  that  it  is  an  ex- 
pression of  His  mind  and  will,  "  with  whom  is  no 
variableness,  neither  shadow  of  turning." 

We  will  direct  our  thoughts  to  THE  REALITY 
AND  NATURE  OF  THIS  AGREEMENT,  as  it  appears  in 
the  facts  that  are  narrated  in  the  Bible ;  in  the 
representations  there  made  of  religious  truth  ;  in  the 
harmony  which  exists  between  the  principles  which 
it  reveals,  the  emotions  it  inculcates,  and  the  out- 
ward conduct  which  flows  from  them;  and  in  the 
unity  between  the  Old  and  New  Testaments. 

1.  As  the  basis  of  our  argument  we  affirm,  in 
the  first  place,  that  there  is  a  remarkable  agreement 
in  the  facts  that  are  narrated  in  the  Scriptures.  The 
arguments  of  infidels  against  the  Bible  as  a  divine 
revelation,  almost,  if  not  always,  relate  to  matters 
of  fact  stated  in  the  sacred  volume.  The  reasons 
for  this  probably  are,  that  the  facts  therein  stated 
are  so  numerous,  that  it  would  require  the  life  of  the 
most  diligent  student  to  investigate  them  minutely ; 
and  that  apparent  discrepancies  in  little  matters, 
which  time  and  patient  research  easily  reconcile, 
embolden  the  infidel  in  a  temporary  triumph. 

It  were  impossible,  in  a  single  chapter,  to  do 
more  than  make  it  appear  that  the  Scriptures  are 


ITS   UNITY.  173 

consistent  with  themselves  in  the  great  facts  which 
lie  at  the  basis  of  the  religion  which  they  reveal ; 
which  have  an  inseparable  connection  with  all  its 
peculiar  doctrines,  an  influence  upon  all  its  precepts, 
and  which  give  Christianity  its  distinguishing  char- 
acter and  importance.  There  are  such  facts.  They 
are,  the  creation  of  the  world — the  descent  of  the 
human  family  from  one  common  pair — the  universal 
deluge — the  division  of  the  earth  among  the  sons  of 
Noah — the  confusion  of  tongues — the  calling  of 
Abraham  and  the  origin  of  the  Hebrew  state — the 
destruction  of  Sodom  and  the  cities  of  the  plain — 
the  severance  of  the  race  of  Ishmael  from  their 
common  progenitor — the  bondage  and  deliverance 
of  the  children  of  Israel  in  Egypt — the  giving  of  the 
moral  and  ceremonial  law  on  Sinai — the  pilgrimage 
through  the  wilderness — the  possession  of  the  prom- 
ised land — the  character  of  the  Jews  under  the  dy- 
nasty of  the  judges  and  the  reign  of  the  kings — the 
service  of  the  temple — the  revolt  of  the  ten  tribes — 
the  exile  and  the  return  from  Babylon — the  nation  and 
the  family  from  which  the  Messiah  descended — his 
miraculous  birth,  his  peculiar  character,  his  preach- 
ing, his  propitiatory  sufferings  and  death,  his  burial 
and  his  resurrection — his  commission  to  his  apostles 
to  preach  the  Gospel — his  ascension  into  heaven — 
the  descent  of  the  Holy  Spirit  on  the  day  of  Pente- 
cost, and  the  organization  of  the  Christian  church. 

If  there  is  a  perfect  agreement  in  the  sacred 
writers  in  their  statement  of  these  great  facts,  then, 
so  far  as  this  statement  goes,  there  is  no  discrepancy 


174  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

in  the  great  system  of  which  these  facts  fonn  the 
basis.  In  things  of  minor  moment,  there  may  be 
seeming  discrepancy  in  the  different  narrators ;  but 
it  is  discrepancy  which  disappears  on  a  more  minute 
examination ;  and  even  though  it  does  not  at  once 
disappear,  ought,  upon  all  principles  of  fair  reason- 
ing, to  be  attributed  to  other  causes  than  the  mistake 
of  the  original  narrator. 

Of  these  great  facts  the  sacred  writers  furnish  a 
perfectly  harmonious  account.  The  earliest  of  them 
wrote  subsequently  to  some  of  these  events ;  some 
of  them  wrote  subsequently  to  them  all ;  while 
most  of  those  who  wrote  subsequently  to  all,  or  a 
part  of  them,  make  frequent  and  explicit  reference 
to  the  whole.  Whether  their  statements  be  more 
or  less  full,  or  their  references  more  or  less  inci- 
dental, there  is  no  positive  discrepancy  in  any  of 
them.  It  would  require  a  volume  to  illustrate  these 
remarks  :  we  must  rely  on  the  reader's  acquaintance 
with  the  Scriptures  for  their  illustration.  Any  man 
familial-  with  the  Sacred  Writings,  will  see  the  force 
of  this  argument. 

The  statement  of  David,  for  example,  is  in  har- 
mony with  that  of  Moses ;  the  narrative  of  Peter, 
and  Stephen,  and  the  allusions  of  Paul,  do  not  con- 
tradict the  narrative  of  any  of  the  narrators  who 
preceded  them.  David  celebrates  in  poetry,  what 
Moses  records  as  a  historian ;  while  Stephen,  and 
Peter,  and  Paul,  urge  in  argument  the  same  facts 
that  are  recorded  by  the  historian's  pen  and  sung  by 
the  prophet's  lyre.  The  historical  parts  of  the  New 


ITS  UNITY.  175 

Testament,  as  well  as  the  Old,  are  in  perfect  coinci- 
dence with  the  more  didactic  and  doctrinal  parts. 
The  epistles  of  Paul,  so  full  of  minute  specifica- 
tions, so  replete  with  allusions  to  times,  places,  per- 
sons, and  events ;  and  written  with  all  the  freedom 
of  epistolary  correspondence,  and  without  any  re- 
gard to  the  order  of  events ;  are  found  to  discover  a 
minute  coincidence  with  the  more  extended  and 
exact  history  given  by  Luke  in  the  book  of  the 
"Acts  of  the  Apostles." 

The  statements  of  the  four  evangelists,  though 
at  a  great  remove  from  studied  uniformity,  are,  in 
regard  to  the  great  facts  on  which  Christianity  is 
founded,  perfectly  harmonious  statements.  The 
apparent  inconsistencies  vanish  on  close  inspection, 
and  the  harmony  becomes  more  obvious  and  strik- 
ing from  the  very  apparent  discrepancies,  because 
they  show  the  entire  absence  of  all  collusion.  There 
is  a  difference  in  their  narratives,  but  they  differ 
without  being  contradictory.  One  gives  a  more  full 
statement  than  another ;  one  writes  in  chronological 
order,  another  inweaves  facts  as  they  suit  his  pur- 
pose, and  without  regard  to  date ;  one  writes  to  a 
different  people,  and  with  a  different  object  from 
another,  and  therefore  presents  the  facts  with  a  dif- 
ferent phase  and  complexion ;  one  traces  the  gene- 
alogy of  the  Saviour  through  the  line  of  Mary,  and 
another  through  the  line  of  Joseph ;  one  specifies  a 
distant  ancestor  by  one  name,  and  another  by  an- 
other ;  and  on  inquiry,  it  is  ascertained  that  he  was 
identified  with  both. 


176  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

In  some  of  the  genealogical  tables  there  is  an 
apparent  discrepancy,  arising  from  the  fact,  that  one 
writer  records  the  genealogy  according  to  the  He- 
brew usage,  reckoning  the  descendants  by  the  males 
only ;  while  another,  not  regarding  this  genealogical 
precision,  includes  both  the  male  and  the  female 
descendants.  The  most  serious  discrepancies  relate 
to  numbers ;  in  regard  to  which,  it  would  be  mar- 
vellous if  none,  of  all  the  transcribers,  had  fallen 
into  any  error.  The  alleged  contradictions,  on 
which  infidelity  so  triumphantly  relies,  are  almost 
all  of  this  character.  But  critical  investigation, 
and  faithful  research,  have  again  and  again  refuted 
them. 

The  original  manuscripts  in  which  the  sacred 
Books  were  written,  have  all  long  since  crumbled 
away,  or  b&en  destroyed ;  and  for  a  long  series  of 
years,  and  until  the  invention  of  the  art  of  printing, 
were  handed  down  from  generation  to  generation, 
by  the  tedious  process  of  transcribing  with  the  pen. 
Even  the  oldest  manuscripts  of  the  New  Testament 
now  in  existence,  were  made  many  centuries  after 
the  loss  of  the  originals.  Amid  the  ten  thousand 
copies,  from  the  days  of  Moses  to  the  present  day, 
it  is  matter  for  grateful  admiration,  that  we  now 
possess,  in  the  original  languages  in  which  they 
Avere  written,  the  substantial  Scriptures,  as  they 
were  dictated  by  Infinite  wisdom.  Proof  readers, 
and  those  who  are  in  the  habit  of  correcting  the 
press,  cannot  fail  to  feel  the  relevancy  and  import- 
ance of  these  observations. 


ITS  UNITY.  177 

God  has  provided  for  the  preservation  of  the 
unadulterated  Scriptures,  by  having  thus  preserved 
them  in  the  original  languages  in  which  they  were 
written.  Living  language  is  continually  fluctuating  : 
dead  languages  are  unchangeable.  We  cannot  suf- 
ficiently adore  the  superintending  and  vigilant  care 
of  Divine  Providence,  in  that  these  writings  have 
been  preserved  in  these  languages,  and  preserved 
pure.  Some. transcribers  may  have  given  a  different 
spelling  to  some  words  from  that  which  is  given  by 
others  ;  some  may  have  misplaced  a  stop,  or  inverted 
a  letter,  or  even  misplaced  a  sentence ;  yet  is  it  still 
the  same  unadulterated  history. 

Some  things  may  remain  obscure ;  but  the  ob- 
scure, so  far  as  they  are  understood,  never  contradict 
those  that  are  plain ;  while  those  that  are  plain  shed 
light  upon  those  that  are  obscure.  Infidels  have  nqt, 
so  far  as  my  knowledge  extends,  ever  undertaken  to 
vitiate  the  great  facts  contained  in  the  Scripture  nar- 
rative. They  are  too  firmly  established  by  impartial 
and  credible  witnesses,  and  too  abundantly  confirmed 
by  profane  history,  to  be  assailed.  The  most  which 
they  have  attempted  to  do,  is  to  charge  upon  the  nar- 
rators some  minor  inconsistencies,  which  in  no  way 
affect  the  essential  harmony  of  their  narrative  ;  and 
which,  if  even  unexplained,  leave  the  great  fabric 
of  God's  truth  firm  and  unimpaired.  We  have 
nothing  to  fear,  when  they  have  done  their  worst ; 
and  when, "after  the  assault,  we  count  those  of  its 
towers  that  have  stood  the  siege,  we  shall  find  that 
not  a  tower  has  fallen." 

Bible  not  of  Man.  Q# 


178  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

2.  There  is  also,  in  the  Scriptures,  the  most 
perfect  unity  in  all  their  representations  of  religious 
truth. 

It  is  allowed  by  infidels,  that  there  is  a  stronger 
apparent  harmony  between  the  doctrines  of  Scrip- 
ture than  the  facts.  If  they  do  ^  not  allow  this,  we 
prove  it  upon  them  by  repeating  a  remark  already 
made;  which  is,  that  their  own  objections  relate, 
rather  to  the  matters  of  fact  that  are  stated  in  the 
Bible,  than  to  the  doctrines  it  reveals.  But  this  is 
perfectly  the  reverse  in  regard  to  all  human  systems. 
In  human  systems,  the  diversity  of  opinion  is  much 
greater  than  the  diversity  of  facts ;  the  moral  disa- 
greement is  much  greater  than  the  physical,  or  the 
historical. 

On  the  subject  of  religious  truth  men  differ,  and 
e^jfer  have  differed.  No  two  men  in  the  world,  even 
with  the  Bible  in  their  hands,  could  probably  now 
be  found,  who  would  write  a  book  on  religious  sub- 
jects as  large  as  the  Bible,  without  expressing  differ- 
ent views.  Much  less  could  thirty  or  forty  men  be 
found  who  would  perfectly  harmonize.  Suppose  the 
Bible  to  be  blotted  out  of  existence,  and  some  thirty 
or  forty  individuals,  scattered  through  different  ages 
of  the  world,  had  written  on  religious  subjects,  and 
their  works  were  comprised  in  a  volume.  Who  does 
not  see,  that  such  a  work  would  have  been  the 
merest  theological  jargon !  Let  the  wild  and  inco- 
herent speculations  of  heathen  philosophy,  and  the 
thousand  varieties  of  pagan  religion,  give  the  answer 
to  this  demand. 


ITS  UNITY.  179 

But  while  these  differences  are  in  fact  almost 
endless,  yet  it  is  the  great  and  undeniable  character- 
istic of  the  Scriptures,  that  all  their  instructions  are 
in  perfect  harmony.  Their  great  object  is  to  impart 
the  knowledge  of  truth.  Truth  is  the  great  and 
only  instrumentality  they  make  use  of  in  order  to 
transform,  purify,  and  elevate  the  human  character. 
No  matter  how  they  teach- — whether  by  history, 
biography,  song,  allegory,  parable,  argument,  or  dog- 
matic testimony  and  affirmation — religious  truth  is 
so  deeply  and  thoroughly  inwoven  in  all  they  utter, 
that  it  forms  the  great  and  essential  element  in  all 
their  instructions.  Yet  in  all  their  views,  from  be- 
ginning to  end,  there  is  the  most  perfect  oneness. 
No  matter  what  the  subject  of  which  they  treat,  all 
the  writers  speak  the  same  thing.  They  uniformly 
present  the  same  views.  We  might  specify  a  chap- 
ter of  doctrines,  even  to  a  minute  and  detailed 
confession  of  faith,  and  we  should  find  the  same 
unbroken  harmony. 

The  most  difficult  of  all  subjects,  the  one  most 
inaccessible  to  the  minds  of  men,  and  the  one  on 
which,  of  all  others,  the  pagan  world  held  notions 
the  most  obscure  and  contradictory,  relates  to  the 
Divine  Being  and  character.  "  What,"  said  the  King 
of  Syracuse  to  Simonides — "  what  is  God  ?"  The 
poet  desired  a  day  to  consider  the  question ;  on  the 
morrow,  he  requested  two  days ;  arid  as  often  as  he 
was  called  upon  for  an  answer,  he  doubled  the 
time.  And  when  the  king  demanded  the  reason  of 
his  conduct,  "It  is,"  replied  Simonides,  "  because 


180  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

the  more  I  consider  the  question,  the  more  obscure 
it  appears."  Yet  this  is  human — it  is  enlightened 
humanity. 

The  Scriptures  never  hesitate,  never  vary  when 
they  speak  of  the  infinite  and  eternal  Deity.  They 
utter  no  dark  enigmas ;  they  veil  nothing  which  to 
creatures  can  be  unveiled;  they  discourage  by  no 
unmingled  severities,  and  flatter  by  no  unmingled 
mercy  ;  they  always  and  everywhere  speak  with  the 
same  explicitness — they  change  never.  So  too  of 
the  character  of  man,  and  the  discovery  they  make 
of  the  way  of  man's  salvation.  They  everywhere 
speak  of  man  as  fallen  by  his  iniquity;  of  one 
Saviour ;  one  way  of  going  to  him,  one  way  only 
in  which  this  salvation  becomes  ours.  Ten  thou- 
sand are  the  fancies  of  other  religions,  and  all  as  con- 
tradictory to  one  another  and  themselves,  as  they 
are  conjectural  and  false.  The  sacred  writers  all 
point  to  the  one  God-man  Mediator — the  one  Root 
and  Offspring  of  David — the  same  Fountain  of 
mercy — the  same  Tree  of  Life.  They  uniformly 
speak  the  same  thing  :  let  their  theme  be  what  it  will, 
the  teaching  of  one  is  the  teaching  of  all. 

And  not  only  do  they  all  speak  the  same  doc- 
trine, but  the  various  doctrines  they  inculcate  all 
agree  with  each  other.  They  have  a  mutual  de- 
pendence and  connection ;  they  give  one  another  a 
reciprocal  support  and  influence ;  they  grow  out  of 
each  other,  and  all  hang  together,  alike  deriving  their 
ripeness,  and  freshness,  and  flavor,  from  the  same 
parent  stock.  Let  a  diligent  student  take  up  a  copy 


ITS  UNITY.  181 

of  the  Scriptures  with  copious  marginal  references, 
and  undertake  to  collate  their  instructions  upon  any 
one  doctrine  or  moral  duty,  and  he  will  be  surprised 
at  the  uniformity  of  their  teaching.  They  never 
speak  for,  and  against,  the  same  doctrine  ;  they  never 
bear  witness  on  both  sides  of  any  question :  nor  is 
there  an  instance  in  which  they  affirm  and  deny  the 
same  thing.  That  which  in  reality  "  has  any  Scrip- 
ture in  its  favor, has  all  Scripture  in  its  favor;"  nor 
is  there  anything  in  the  Bible  against  it. 

Now  we  maintain  that  this  is  a  remarkable  fact. 
It  is  not  an  easy  matter  for  a  false  witness,  especially 
if  he  has  a  long  story  to  tell,  to  agree  with  himself; 
much  less  will  a  number  of  false  witnesses,  testifying 
at  great  length  on  so  many  subjects,  agree  with  one 
another.  This  were,  if  possible,  a  greater  miracle 
than  that  of  divine  inspiration.  Is  this  harmony 
then  the  result  of  mere  human  wisdom,  honestly 
directed  ?  Is  it  the  effect  of  fiction  or  falsehood  ? 
This  is  more  than  any  sober  man  can  be  persuaded 
to  believe.  It  is  contrary  to  all  experience  and  ob- 
servation. The  human  mind  is  too  weak,  thus  to 
have  settled  down  upon  such  a  vast  amount  of  un- 
changing truth  ;  it  is  itself  too  restless  and  changing  ; 
nor  is  the  instance  to  be  found  in  the  history  of  our 
race,  in  which  its  views  of  religious  truth  possessed 
such  comprehensiveness,  consistency,  and  perma- 
nence. We  cannot  account  for  this  harmony  of 
truth  which  the  sacred  Books  express,  upon  any 
other  principle,  than  that  its  authors  were  under 
the  guidance  of  heavenly  wisdom.  The  thing  is 


182  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

impossible  :  the  supposed  cause,  that  uninspired  men 
were  its  authors,  is  not  adequate  to  the  effect  pro- 
duced. 

3.  Turn,  now,  to  the  harmony  which  exists  be- 
tween the  principles  which  the  Bible  reveals  and  the 
inward  emotions  it  inculcates,  and  the  harmony  be- 
tween these  inward  emotions  and  the  outward  conduct 
which  flows  from  them.  True  religion  consists  of 
doctrine,  experience  and  practice ;  while  in  all  these 
respects,  it  exhibits  the  most  perfect  symmetry. 
There  is  no  inconsistency  between  its  practice  and 
its  affections,  nor  between  its  affections  and  its  prin- 
ciples. They  are  all  conformed  and  fitted  the  one 
to  the  other,  and  form  a  religion  in  which  the  under- 
standing, the  heart,  and  the  outward  deportment 
agree.  Its  religion  is  like  an  edifice  made  up  of  dif- 
ferent parts,  but  all  so  perfectly  congruous  and  joined 
together,  that  it  possesses  unequalled  strength  and 
beauty.  The  tendency  of  its  truths  is  not  to  de- 
stroy, or  neutralize,  but  to  excite  and  sustain  that 
internal  state  of  mind,  and  those  glowing,  heavenly 
affections  which  it  requires ;  and  the  tendency  of 
this  internal  state  of  mind,  so  far  from  being  at  war 
with  the  external  character  and  conduct  which  it 
requires,  is  the  only  thing  that  effectually  secures  it. 
The  love  of  Christian  truth  is  never  found  in  minds 
that  are  not  imbued  with  Christian  truth  itself; 
while  the  practice  of  it  is  never  found  where  it  is 
not  believed  and  loved.  The  truths  of  the  Bible, 
the  love  of  it,  and  its  controlling  power  over  the 
life — these  three  things,  constitute  the  Christian 


ITS  UNITY.  183 

character.  Where  these  three  things  exist,  there 
is  the  root,  the  branches,  the  fruit — the  tree  in  full 
bearing.  An  honest  belief  in  the  great  truths  of 
Christianity  lies  at  the  basis  of  all  holy  affections; 
and  holy  affections,  just  in  the  measure  in  which 
they  exist  in  the  soul,  produce  holy  obedience. 

A  man's  affections  may  be  inconsistent  with  the 
truths  which  he  believes,  because  it  is  the  cold  and 
reluctant  assent  which  he  accords  to  mere  specula- 
tive propositions.  So  may  his  life  be  inconsistent 
with  the  principles  which  he  professes  to  love ;  but 
it  cannot  be  inconsistent  with  the  principles  which 
for  the  time  being  he  truly  loves :  it  may  be  at  war 
with  the  principles  that  are  on  his  lips,  but  it  cannot 
be  at  war  with  the  principles  that  are  in  his  heart. 
The  religion  of  the  Bible,  therefore,  is  throughout 
consistent  with  itself.  It  is  like  sweet  music,  made 
up  of  harmonious  parts — like  the  music  of  heaven, 
where,  though  there  are  ten  thousand  voices,  each 
voice  is  not  only  perfectly  melodious  in  itself,  but 
all  the  voices  are  blended  in  perfect  and  delightful 
harmony,  without  a  jarring  note,  or  the  faintest  dis- 
cord. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  our  argument,  that  we 
should  prove  that  this  religion  is  ever  perfectly  ex- 
emplified among  men.  It  is  enough  if  we  can  show 
that  this  is  the  religion  of  the  Bible,  and  that  it  is 
exemplified  among  men,  just  in  the  degree  in  which 
men  are  imbued  with  the  spirit  which  the  Bible  in- 
culcates. It  has  never  been  perfectly  exemplified 
among  men,  save  in  a  single  instance  j  and  in  that 


184  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

instance,  the  thoughts  of  holiness,  the  love  of  holi- 
ness, and  the  life  of  holiness,  were  expressive  of  a 
harmony  of  character  that  indicated  its  divine  ori- 
gin. Believing  the  truth,  loving  the  truth,  and 
walking  in  the  truth,  constitute  one  religion.  Every 
truth  begets  its  peculiar  grace,  and  every  grace  its 
peculiar  virtue.  With  all  the  teachings  of  the  Bible 
on  the  importance  of  just  conceptions  of  the  truth, 
it  does  not  sever  them  from  their  appropriate  affec- 
tions ;  and  with  all  its  teachings  on  the  importance 
of  godliness  within,  it  never  severs  them  from  the 
godliness  that  is  without.  From  the  views  it  re- 
veals of  God,  it  deduces  the  affections  we  owe  to 
him ;  from  the  affections  we  owe  to  him,  it  deduces 
the  duties  we  owe.  Prayer  and  praise,  the  study  of 
the  Scriptures,  the  worship  of  the  sanctuary,  the 
sanctification  of  the  Lord's  day,  and  the  profession 
of  his  name  before  men,  and  the  consecration  of 
time,  property  and  influence  to  his  service,  are  but 
the  fruits  of  a  true  and  honest  loyalty  to  him  as  our 
sovereign  Lord  and  gracious  Redeemer.  From  the 
Views  it  reveals  of  man  and  the  relations  men  sus- 
tain to  one  another,  it  deduces  the  affections  we  owe 
to  our  fellow  men ;  and  from  the  affections  we  owe 
to  them,  it  deduces  the  correlative  duties.  Truth, 
integrity,  kindness,  purity ;  respect  to  our  superiors, 
and  submission  to  those  who  rule  over  us ;  conde- 
scension to  our  inferiors,  and  doing  good  to  all  men 
as  we  have  opportunity — these,  and  other  relative 
duties,  it  ingrafts  on  the  parent  stock  of  the  same 
faith  and  charity.  In  this  respect,  everything  in 


ITS  UNITY.  185 

the  Bible  is  perfectly  harmonious.  And  is  not  this 
harmony  among  the  indices  of  its  divine  origin? 
Do  false  religions  ever  teach  thus  ?  Have  they  ever 
thus  taught?  Did  ever  such  a  religion  originate 
with  weak,  fallible,  sinful  men  ? 

4.  In  the  last  place,  let  us  advert  to  the  harmony 
which  exists  between  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and 
New  Testaments.  Four  hundred  years  elapsed  be- 
tween the  last  prophet  of  the  Old,  and  the  first  pro- 
phet of  the  New  dispensation.  The  Old  Testament 
was  published  to  the  world  long  before  the  New  ; 
and  in  this,  as  well  as  some  other  particulars,  they 
form  two  distinct  volumes,  while  they  profess  to  be 
only  two  distinct  series  of  revelations  from  the  same 
Divine  Author.  Infidels  have  not  been  wanting  in 
strenuous  effort  to  prove  that  they  are  contradictory 
revelations ;  that  the  one  condemns  what  the  other 
justifies ;  that  the  former  is  abrogated  by  the  latter, 
and  that  therefore  both  cannot  be  from  God.  There 
is  great  ignorance,  or  great  disingenuousness  in  these 
assertions,  and  there  may  be  both.  A  little  reflec- 
tion will  show,  that  the  Jewish  revelation  is  con- 
firmed by  the  Christian,  and  the  Christian  by  the 
Jewish ;  and  that  there  is  the  most  perfect  concord 
between  them  both. 

It  is  no  objection  to  the  divine  origin  of  the 
Scriptures,  that  God  did  not  reveal  them  to  men  all 
at  once.  It  is  not  pretended  that  the  Old  Testa- 
ment contains  a  complete  and  perfect  revelation. 
The  expansion  or  amplification  of  a  principle  is  not 
to  be  brought  as  an  objection  to  the  principle  itself. 


186  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

All  the  books  in  the  world  are  but  little  more  than 
illustrations  ;  and  the  most  that  we  can  say  of  them 
is,  that  they  furnish  us  with  greater  advantages  for 
applying  what  was  at  first  written.  The  work  of 
God's  revelation  was  a  progressive  work ;  nor  is 
there  any  more  objection  to  it,  on  that  account, 
than  to  the  progressive  works  of  creation  and  prov- 
idence. God's  revelation  had  its  infancy,  its  youth, 
its  manhood ;  and  where  is  the  objection  to  its 
being  born  not  in  all  the  maturity  of  its  perfected 
manhood  ? 

Nor  is  it  an  objection  to  the  harmony  of  which 
we  speak,  that  parts  of  the  Old  are  abrogated  by  the 
New.  It  would  be  an  objection,  if  the  abrogated 
parts  of  the  Old  Testament  had  been  originally 
revealed  as  a  permanent  rule  of  faith  and  duty.  But 
they  disclaim  this  high  prerogative  ;  they  themselves 
profess  to  be  only  a  temporary  rule,  a  local  rule,  that 
was  designed  to  be  superseded  by  a  more  perfect  and 
permanent  economy.  The  ceremonial  and  civil 
code  of  the  Jewish  nation  was  of  such  a  kind  that  it 
could  be  abrogated,  without  contravening  any  one 
of  the  great  principles  of  truth  and  rectitude  of  which 
the  Bible,  as  an  entire  revelation,  is  the  only  infalli- 
ble standard.  It  was  made  up,  not  of  moral  laws,  but 
of  positive  institutions  which  partook  not  of  a  moral 
nature,  nor  had  they  any  other  binding  force  except 
that  they  were  commanded.  They  carried  within 
themselves  the  seeds  of  their  own  dissolution — seeds 
planted  by  the  hand  of  God.  They  were  instituted 
for  a  particular  nation,  for  a  limited  time,  and  for  a 


ITS  UNITY.  187 

specified  purpose  ;  and  the  prediction  that  they  should 
cease  was  uttered  by  God's  own  voice. 

It  is  one  of  the  proofs  of  their  divine  origin,  and 
of  their  harmony  with  the  other  parts  of  Divine  Rev- 
elation, that  when  that  time  had  expired,  and  that 
purpose  was  attained,  and  that  nation  passed  from 
under  the  sceptre  of  their  theocracy,  all  that  was 
peculiar  in  the  Jewish  dispensation  was  merged  in 
the  common  Christianity.  It  is  one  thing  for  Chris- 
tianity to  supersede  Judaism,  another  for  Judaism  to 
contradict  Christianity  ;  one  thing  for  the  New  Tes- 
tament to  be  inconsistent  with  the  Old,  and  another 
for  the  Old,  through  a  long  succession  of  ages,  to 
prepare  the  way  for  the  New.  And  this  is  precisely 
the  relation  which  the  two  Testaments  sustain  to 
one  another.  In  all  its  arrangements  the  Old  is 
ever  looking  towards  the  New  economy,  and  these 
arrangements  are  completed  only  by  that  which  is 
to  come.  The  Old  is  preliminary  to  the  New,  and 
the  New  the  accomplishment  of  the  Old.  And  is 
not  this  evidence  of  harmony,  rather  than  the  want 
of  it? 

Still  further :  There  are  several  features  of  the 
Old  Testament  which  are  carried  into  the  New,  and 
which  show  that  they  constitute  but  different  parts 
of  one  system.  The  moral  code  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment is  the  moral  code  of  Christianity ;  the  truth  of 
the  Old  Testament  is  the  truth  of  the  New.  The 
infidel  may  be  challenged  to  specify  a  single  moral 
law,  or  one  principle  of  truth  contained  in  the  wri- 
tings of  Moses  and  the  prophets,  which  is  not  recog- 


188  THE   BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

nized  and  honored  by  having  a  place  in  the  teach- 
ings of  Christ  and  the  apostles. 

Every  attentive  reader  of  the  Bible  cannot  but 
have  remarked,  that  to  a  very  great  extent,  the  New 
Testament  does  but  little  more  than  inculcate  with 
greater  explicitness,  and  amplify  the  instructions  of 
Moses  and  the  prophets.  Nor  are  they  these  great 
moral  features  of  the  Old  Testament  simply,  that 
appear  in  all  their  prominence  and  brightness  in 
the  New ;  but  not  a  few  of  the  features  even  of  its 
ceremonial  institutions,  stand  out  in  their  true  im- 
port only  in  the  Christian  revelation.  The  thought 
is  too  familiar  to  almost  every  mind  to  need  dwelling 
upon,  that  the  most  emphatic  institutions  of  that 
economy  relate  to  the  distinguished  Personage  who 
is  the  grand  subject  of  the  Christian  revelation,  and 
centre  in  his  person  and  work.  Not  only  were  the 
sacrifices  and  oblations  prefigurative  of  the  great 
oblation  offered  on  Calvary,  and  not  only  did  they 
derive  all  their  importance  from  this  their  typical 
import ;  but  all  the  prophecies  of  the  Old  Testament 
are  of  the  same  character,  and  have  the  person  and 
work  of  Christ  for  their  common  object.  They  form 
a  system  of  prophecies  with  this  one  object  in  view. 
The  harmony  and  unity  of  their  design  are  not  only 
peculiar,  and  different  from  all  the  pretended  predic- 
tions of  pagan  oracles,  but  are  in  this  respect  strongly 
marked,  and  truly  wonderful.  "  It  shall  bruise  thy 
head,  thou  shalt  bruise  his  heel :"  here  this  wonder- 
ful system  of  predictions  began.  It  ran  on  in  one 
ridge  of  time,  and  in  one  line  of  the  generations  of 


ITS  UNITY.  189 

Adam,  till  it  reached  the  Jewish  nation  ;  and  never 
swerved  from  its  object,  nor  ran  out  of  the  line  of 
that  people,  until  the  last  of  the  seers  uttered  his 
memorable  predictions,  about  four  hundred  years 
before  the  coming  of  Christ ;  and  John,  his  more 
proximate  harbinger,  exclaimed,  "  Behold  the  Lamb 
of  God,  that  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world!"  It 
began  with  Christ ;  and  with  Christ  it  terminated. 
Every  intermediate  prophecy,  for  almost  four  thou- 
sand years,  whether  made  to  Noah,  or  to  Abraham ; 
to  Isaiah,  or  Malachi ;  whether  it  concerned  the  ante- 
diluvian world,  or  the  nations  of  Canaan ;  or  the 
Jews,  or  the  Egyptians,  or  Nineveh,  or  Babylon,  or 
Persia,  Greece  or  Rome  ;  concentrated  in  the  gradual 
and  prospective  developement  of  the  Divine  purpose 
in  regard  to  one  great  event  and  object — the  coming 
of  Jesus  in  the  flesh,  and  the  establishment  of  his 
kingdom  in  the  earth.  Whatever  other  ends  may 
have  been  incidentally  subserved  by  this  series  of 
prophecies,  this  is  the  great  end  for  which  the  Scrip- 
tures of  the  New  Testament  inform  us  this  long- 
continued  intercourse  between  Heaven  and  earth 
was  maintained. 

Now  we  say  that  in  all  these  respects,  and  if  in 
all  these,  in  all  others,  there  is  wonderful  harmony 
between  the  Old  and  New  Testaments.  The  Old 
predicts  the  New,  and  the  New  appeals  to  the  Old. 
Here  is  a  system  of  instructions,  of  sacrifices,  of  pre- 
dictions, all  of  prodigious  extent,  commencing  wilh 
the  fall  of  man  and  reaching  to  the  death  of  Christ, 
all  telling  the  same  story,  fraught  with  the  same 


190  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

thoughts,  disclosing  the  same  marvellous  purpose — a 
system  made  up  of  thousands  of  parts,  and  pervad- 
ing forty  centuries ;  yet  everything  about  it  is  of  a 
piece,  and  astonishingly  great  as  it  is,  all  perfectly 
harmonious.  Whence  is  it  ?  Whence  was  it  ?  Who 
was  it  that  bound  these  two  dispensations  together, 
and  made  them  one  system  ?  Who  bound  the  pre- 
diction in  Eden  concerning  "  The  Seed  of  the 
woman,"  with  Malachi's  prediction  of  "  The  Desire 
of  all  nations  ?"  Who  associated  the  blood  of 
Abel's  sacrifice  with  the  great  oblation  that  "  speak- 
eth  better  things  than  the  blood  of  Abel  ?"  Who 
made  the  faith  of  Abraham  under  the  Old  dispensa- 
tion, the  example  and  pattern  of  later  saints  under 
the  New  ?  Who  made  these  two  dispensations  thus 
speak  the  same  thing  ?  Who  thus  impregnated  the 
Old  with  the  New,  and  made  the  New  the  expansion 
and  developement  of  the  Old  ?  Is  it  not  strange 
blindness,  that  can  overlook  the  mind  and  hand  of 
God  in  this  accordancy  ?  Impostors  might  here  and 
there  have  lighted  on  a  single  prefiguration,  an  iso- 
lated service,  a  lone  and  solitary  prediction ;  but  never 
on  such  a.  long-continued,  complete,  and  harmonious 
system — for  the  obvious  reasons,  that  no  impostor 
would  have  thought  of  it,  and  that  if  he  had  thought 
of  it,  the  coincidences  are  beyond  his  power. 

We  look  upon  this  wonderful  system,  now  that 
it  is  revealed  to  us,  as  one  of  the  simplest  things  in 
the  world  ;  just  as  we  do  upon  the  laws  of  nature,  to 
which  no  being  could  give  birth  but  the  God  of 
nature.  The  more  the  one  part  is  studied,  and 


ITS  UNITY.  191 

understood,  the  more  light  does  it  throw  upon  the 
other.  If  one  is  false,  both  are  false ;  and  both  are 
true,  if  one  is  true.  They  lap  on  to  one  another,  and 
show  the  style  of  the  wise  Master  Builder.  There 
is  no  collision  between  them.  They  are  "  the  two 
witnesses  of  heaven ;"  and  instead  of  "  emitting 
such  cross  lights  as  are  fitted  to  bewilder  the  eye  of 
the  observer,  they  are  the  two  candlesticks  which 
man  hath  not  planted,  but  which  stand  before  the 
God  of  the  whole  earth."  Nothing  is  more  prepos- 
terous than  to  suppose  that  this  harmony,  involving 
as  it  does  so  many  things,  extending  as  it  does  over  so 
many  ages,  embracing  as  it  does  such  a  vast  variety 
of]  means  all  tending  to  the  same  end  and  so  many 
causes  all  producing  the  same  result,  is  the  creature 
of  human  wisdom.  Pre-concert  in  such  an  arrange- 
ment was  impossible.  Nor  is  it  any  accidental, 
or  fabulous  coincidence.  The  hand  of  God  is  in 
it :  there  is  no  accounting  for  it,  unless  "  holy  men 
wrote  as  they  were  moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost." 

Such  is  the  reality  and  nature  of  the  agreement 
or  concord  of  the  Scriptures  with  themselves.  In  all 
their  accession  of  parts,  and  in  all  the  progress  of  their 
augmented  revelations,  they  may  have  been  perpet- 
ually acquiring  new  excellencies ;  but  they  never 
depart  from  their  uniform  character.  They  disclose 
new  truths,  but  there  is  no  change  of  truths  once 
disclosed ;  new  views,  but  they  are  not  altered 
views.  They  consist  of  more  than  threescore  dis- 
tinct treatises,  composed  by  more  than  thirty  differ- 
ent writers,  most  of  whom  were  unknown  to  each 


192  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

other,  separated  by  their  places  of  residence,  living  in 
different  periods  and  ages  of  the  world,  and  were  all 
scattered  through  a  period  of  not  less  than  sixteen 
hundred  years.  They  were  men  greatly  differing  in 
natural  endowments ;  in  age,  education,  and  learn- 
ing ;  in  their  passions  and  prejudices,  and  in  the 
stations  they  held  in  society.  Some  of  them  were 
rich,  and  some  of  them  were  poor ;  some  of  them 
were  legislators  and  kings,  and  some  of  them  were 
shepherds,  fishermen,  and  taxgatherers.  They  wrote 
also  upon  the  most  interesting  of  all  subjects,  the 
great  subject  of  religion  and  morals  :  the  subject  on 
which  the  human  mind  is  acutely  sensitive — the 
subject,  in  relation  to  which  the  stormy  passions  of 
men  hold  them  in  perpetual  agitation,  and  their 
ungoverned  fancy  keeps  them  in  wide  and  wild 
extremes — the  subject  on  which  human  tradition, 
and  human  laws,  and  the  maxims  and  habits  of  men, 
and  the  state  of  society,  and  caste  and  classification, 
are  almost  endlessly  diversified ;  and  on  which,  for 
centuries,  nothing  was  written  save  what  is  written 
in  the  Bible ;  and  for  other  centuries,  though  much 
was  written,  little  was  accessible  to  the  mass  of 
mankind,  or  that  had  the  confidence  of  those  to 
whom  it  was  accessible. 

The  inviolable  uniformity,  therefore,  pervading 
the  Scriptures,  is  a  fact  of  no  doubtful  authority  in 
demonstrating  their  divine  origin.  No  one  impostor 
could  have  written  thus ;  and  no  body  of  impostors, 
scattered  through  so  many  centuries,  could  have 
thus  agreed  with  one  another.  Had  such  been  the 


ITS   UNITY.  193 

origin  of  these  books,  they  would  have  varied  with 
the  wisdom,  or  the  folly,  or  the  caprice  of  their  au- 
thors j  they  would  have  changed  with  every  passing 
age  and  every  revolution  of  laws  and  manners,  and 
received  their  peculiar  coloring  from  the  class  of  so- 
ciety from  which  their  respective  authors  were  taken. 
So  that  it  is  utterly  impossible  they  could  have  been 
written  without  the  superintendence  of  a  Divine 
power. 

Such  is  the  argument  for  the  divine  origin  of  the 
Scriptures  from  their  perfect  harmony  and  agreement. 

There  is  but  one  objection  to  it  which  we  feel 
called  upon  to  answer.  The  infidel  demands,  "  If 
the  Bible  is  thus  harmonious,  whence  is  it  that  there 
is  so  much  discordancy  among  those  who  profess  to 
make  it  the  only  standard  of  their  faith  and  practice  ? 
If  the  Bible  is  one,  if  there  is  an  honest  faith  in  it, 
whence  this  discrepancy  ?"  We  acknowledge  the 
force  of  the  objection,  so  far  as  it  regards  men  ;  but 
we  do  not  perceive  its  stringency  as  it  regards  the 
Bible.  We  say,  let  God  be  true,  though  every  man 
be  a  liar.  As  to  the  discordances  among  men,  we 
cannot  open  our  mouth.  It  is  as  true  in  moral,  as 
in  mathematical  science,  "  that  two  things  which 
are  equal  to  another  and  the  same  thing,  are  them- 
selves equal."  Human  systems  which  agree  with 
the  Bible,  agree  with  each  other.  The  Bible  is 
right,  but  men  are  wrong  ;  they  are  sincerely  wrong, 
because  they  are  sincere  in  their  differences.  In 
requiring  men  to  adopt  the  Bible  as  their  standard, 
its  Author  requires  them  not  to  disagree  among 

FiblenotofMan.  9 


194  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

themselves.     Men  alone  are  chargeable  with  the  sin 
of  putting  this  objection  into  the  mouth  of  infidelity, 
and  of  bringing  this  reproach  upon  the  word  of  God. 
It  is  a  mournful,  but  undeniable  truth,  that  the 
church  of  God  has  apostatized  from  her  primeval 
unity.     Time  was  when  "  the  multitude  of  believers 
were  of  one  heart  and  one  soul."     But  these  days 
have  passed  away ;  and  infidelity  has  for  ages  tri- 
umphed in  a  divided  church.     There  is  great  sin  in 
these  discordancies  ;  nor  is  it  the  less  because  they 
may,  peradventure,  have  become  venerable  for  their 
age  ;  nor  because  the  guilt  of  them  has  been  so  long 
in  contracting,   and  they  have  become  so  closely 
inwoven,  and  so  deeply  imbedded  in  the  habits  of 
human  thought.    We  may  not  depart  from  the  great 
and  obvious  principle,  that  what  the  Bible  teaches,  no 
man,  and  no  set  of  men,  has  a  right  to  disbelieve  ;  nor 
can  we  resist  the  irrefragable  conclusion,  that  where 
this  beautifully  harmonious  system  of  truth  is  received, 
men  themselves  will  be  as  harmonious  as  the  Bible. 
But  while  we  give  utterance  to  thoughts  like 
these,  we  would  not  have  infidels  unmindful  of  the 
fact,  that  there  is  much  more  extended,  substantial 
agreement  in  all  true  Christians  than  their  objection 
implies.     There  is  such  a  thing  as  the  "  communion 
of  saints,"  and  essential  harmony,  with  unessential 
differences.     Already    are    there    significant    move- 
ments in  the  church  of  God  pointing  towards  greater 
harmony  of  views  and  affection.     It  will  be  indeed 
a  new  era,  when  such  a  day  is  fully  ushered  in — a 
dawning,  such  as  has  not  brightened  our  spiritual 


ITS  UNITY.  195 

horizon  since  the  early  dawn  of  the  Sun  of  right- 
eousness, when  he  rose  with  "  healing  in  his  beams." 
It  will  be  a  waxing,  and  not  a  waning  light.  "  The 
light  of  the  moon  shall  be  as  the  light  of  the  sun, 
and  the  light  of  the  sun  shall  be  sevenfold,  as  the 
light  of  seven  da.ys,  in  the  day  that  the  Lord  bindeth 
up  the  breach  of  his  people,  and  healeth  the  stroke 
of  their  wound."  His  church  will  put  on  her  gar- 
ments of  strength  and  salvation  ;  her  adornment  will 
be  the  simplicity  of  truth  and  the  beauty  of  holiness ; 
and  she  will  look  forth  fair  as  the  moon,  clear  as  the 
sun,  and  terrible  as  a  bannered  army.  It  will  be 
eminently  the  Lord's  work,  and  marvellous  in  the 
eyes  of  them  who  behold  it.  It  will  require  so  much 
free  and  unembarrassed  interchange  of  thought ;  so 
much  candor  and  fairness ;  so  much  that  is  amiable 
and  conciliating ;  so  much  humility  and  prayer ;  such 
a  strong  and  practical  acknowledgment  of  God's 
word  as  the  only  infallible  standard ;  such  oblivion 
of  men,  and  such  a  remembrance  of  the  great  God ; 
that  his  own  condescending  goodness  and  mercy 
will  be  most  visibly  honored  in  effecting  it.  This 
was  the  prophet's  hope  when  he  said,  "  Thy  watch- 
men shall  lift  up  the  voice,  with  the  voice  together 
shall  they  sing ;  for  they  shall  see  eye  to  eye,  when 
the  Lord  shall  bring  again  Zion."  This  was  the 
Saviour's  prayer,  in  view  of  the  Avants  and  woes  of 
a  ruined  world  and  a  scoffing  age  :  "  I  pray  that 
they  all  may  be  one  ;  as  thou,  Father,  art  in  me,  and 
I  in  thee,  that  they  may  be  one  in  us :  that  the  world 
may  believe  that  thou  hast  sent  me  !" 


196  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 


CHAPTER  VII, 


ADAPTATION  OF  THE    SCRIPTURES  TO  THE  CHARAC- 
TER AND  WANTS  OF  MAN. 

NOT  a  little  has  been  written  on  the  subject  of 
Natural  Theology,  to  prove  the  being  of  God  from 
the  adaptation  of  external  nature  to  the"  intellectual 
and  moral  constitution  of  man.  In  a  short  digres- 
sion from  his  main  object,  in  one  of  the  Bridgewater 
Treatises  upon  this  topic,  the  Reverend  Dr.  Chal- 
mers makes  the  following  observations.  "  If  in  the 
system  of  external  nature,  we  can  recognize  the 
evidence  of  God  being  its  Author  in  the  adaptation, 
wherewith  it  teems,  to  the  moral  and  intellectual 
constitution  of  man,  there  is  room  and  opportunity 
for  this  very  evidence  in  the  book  of  an  external 
revelation.  What  appears  in  the  construction  of  a 
world  might  be  made  to  appear  as  manifestly  in  the 
construction  of  a  volume,  whose  objective  truth  may 
present  as  obvious  and  skilful  an  accommodation  to 
our  mental  economy  as  do  the  objective  things  of  a 
created  universe.  And  it  is  not  less  favorable  for  an 
indication  of  its  divine  original,  that  whereas  nature, 
as  being  the  original  system,  abounds  with  those 
fitnesses  which  harmonize  with  the  mental  constitu- 
tion in  a  state  of  health;  Christianity,  as  being  a 


ITS  ADAPTATION  TO  MAN.  197 

restorative  system,  abounds  in  fitnesses  to  the  same 
constitution  in  a  state  of  disease.  Certain  it  is  that 
the  same  wisdom,  and  goodness,  and  even  power  of 
a  moral  architect,  may  be  as  strikingly  evinced  in 
the  reparation,  as  in  the  primeval  establishment  of  a 
moral  nature." 

It  is  to  this  class  of  credentials  with  which  the 
Bible  comes  to  us,  that  I  propose  to  devote  the  pres- 
ent chapter.  Man,  in  his  primeval  integrity,  was  a 
world  of  wonders.  Endowed  with  exalted  intellec- 
tual faculties,  from  the  first  moment  of  his  existence 
he  was  obedient  to  the  law  of  his  being,  and  his 
Creator ;  his  moral  excellence  was  unblotted,  and  his 
character  sinless.  As  a  consequence  of  this;  he  was 
happy.  Above,  without,  within,  there  was  nothing 
to  interrupt  his  fellowship  with  his  Maker,  nothing 
to  poison  the  fountains  of  his  joy.  To  us  this  pic- 
ture seems  almost  like  fable,  because  in  all  the  sub- 
sequent history  of  our  race,  there  is  not  another  such 
example  of  innocence  and  loveliness ;  not  one  bright 
and  refreshing  spot  on  which  the  eye  can  rest.  In 
his  fallen  state,  he  is  a  complication  of  wonders ;  a 
complication  of  intellectual  and  moral  ailments,  that 
are  at  war  with  one  another  and  with  God.  Origi- 
nally the  elements  of  his  being  all  vitally  united, 
and  all,  with  their  separate  functions,  were  in  due 
subordination  and  subserviency.  Melancholy  as  the 
fact  is,  sin  has  disturbed  and  confounded  this  har- 
mony ;  it  has  to  such  an  extent  deranged  man's  in- 
tellectual and  moral  system,  that  he  has  lost  sight  of 
the  great  end  of  his  existence  ;  and  remaining  as  he 


198  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

is,  is  unhappy,  lives  to  no  good  purpose,  and  dies 
in  despair. 

A  system  of  philosophy,  or  religion,  that  can 
successfully  address  itself  to  his  entire  being  in  all 
its  states  of  moral  degradation  and  reform,  in  all 
their  varieties,  in  all  the  unnumbered  individuals  of 
the  race,  in  every  age  and  clime,  must  be  a  nicely 
adjusted  system.  Its  parts  must  be  wonderfully 
arranged  and  put  together  so  as  to  meet  one  another, 
and  so  that  its  many  movements  and  influences  may 
all  tend  to  one  and  the  most  desirable  result.  We 
affirm,  that  just  such  a  system  is  revealed  in  the 
Bible  ;  and  we  proceed  to  trace  this  adaptation. 

1.  We  look  at  man,  in  the  first  place,  as  an  in- 
dividual existence.  One  of  his  noblest  powers  is  his 
intelligence.  He  is  the  creature  of  thought ;  and 
this  thinking  existence  within  him  must  have  a 
religion  that  satisfies  it.  If  the  understanding  does 
not  go  along  with  it,  or  if  it  keep  his  mind  in 
the  bandages  of  infancy  and  impose  manacles  upon 
thought,  it  is  no  religion  for  a  creature  of  intelli- 
gence. Or  if  it  be  a  religion  that  makes  heavy  ex- 
actions upon  his  credulity,  and  does  not  enforce  its 
claims  by  solid  argument,  it  is  no  religion  for  a 
creature  of  intelligence.  The  Bible  reveals  no  such 
dubious  theories;  but  on  the  other  hand,  just  the 
truths  in  which  the  human  mind,  in  all  the  stages 
of  its  progress  and  advancement,  feels  the  deepest 
interest ;  and  which,  from  their  simplicity,  their 
greatness  and  their  certainty,  are  not  only  fitted  to 
relieve  from  intellectual  depression  and  disquietude. 


ITS  ADAPTATION   TO   MAN.  199 

but  impart  intense  delight  to  every  honest  inquiry 
after  truth.  Here  are  those  great  objects  of  knowl- 
edge, those  truths,  which  the  mind  so  eagerly  seeks 
after,  and  which  men  most  need  to  know. 

It  is  not  easy  for  us  who  have  the  Bible  in  our 
hands,  to  have  any  conception  of  the  doubt,  the 
absolute  scepticism,  and  the  consequent  solicitude 
and  distress  on  almost  every  subject  of  religious  and 
moral  inquiry,  which  would  prevail  but  for  the  clear 
and  authoritative  decisions  of  this  one  Book.  Every- 
thing would  be  thrown  into  the  region  of  conjecture  ; 
the  human  mind  would  be  in  a  state  of  fermentation, 
and  everywhere  tossed  upon  the  ocean  of  its  own 
unsettled  thoughts.  If  the  inquiry  were  put  to  the 
most  intelligent  and  established  Christian  in  the 
world,  What  would  be  his  faith  without  the  Bible  ? 
he  would  feel  constrained  to  reply,  "  I  do  not  know 
what  it  would  be."  It  would  be  like  dark  chaos,  or 
the  ocean  in  a  storm,  where  neither  faith  nor  hope 
would  have  any  anchorage  ground  to  rest  upon. 
This  truthful  record  meets  the  wants  of  man  as  the 
creature  of  intelligence.  It  is  the  religion  of  light, 
of  truth  and  certainty.  It  satisfies  the  mind  when 
nothing  else  satisfies.  No  matter  how  depressed,  or 
degraded  the  intelligence,  the  Bible  elevates  it ;  no 
matter  how  elevated  it  is,  the  Bible  is  its  guide  and 
counsellor ;  no  matter  how  faint  and  weary,  here  it 
is  led  to  the  head  and  fountain  of  living  waters. 

Man,  too,  is  a  moral  being  :  he  possesses  a  sense 
of  moral  obligation,  and  while  he  approves  what  is 
right,  he  condemns  what  is  wrong  in  moral  conduct. 


200  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

Conscience  has  not  a  little  to  do  with  his  religion, 
although  in  defiance  of  himself  she  is  a  severe  arbi- 
ter. Men  Avho  'do  not  obey  her  dictates,  know  that 
they  ought  to  obey  them.  She  may  not  govern 
them,  but  she  claims  the  right  of  governing  them ; 
and  though  her  supremacy  may  be  disputed,  resisted, 
and  dethroned,  yet  she  "ever  holds  the  legitimate 
authority."  She  approves  of  rectitude  ;  but,  unhap- 
pily, she  sees  very  little  to  approve ;  and  the  conse- 
quence is,  she  feels  the  outrage  and  the  wrong.  In 
default  of  the  rectitude  she  demands,  she  has  nothing 
left  her  but  to  utter  her  remonstrances,  and  inflict 
those  terrible  apprehensions,  those  fearful  forebod- 
ings of  the  coming  wrath,  which  agitate  and  torment 
the  soul.  Sometimes  she  exerts  this,  her  only  re- 
maining prerogative,  with  amazing  power ;  and  so 
lashes  the  offender  with  her  scorpion  sting,  that  he 
feels  within  him  the  incipient  gnawings  of  the 
worm  that  never  dies.  A  religion  that  is  adapted 
to  man,  must  meet  these  demands  of  conscience. 
They  cannot  be  resisted,  nor  set  aside,  nor  connived 
at :  it  is  not  in  man's  nature  thus  to  trifle  with  her 
claims. 

If  we  look  to  the  history  of  the  past,  or  if  we 
look  over  the  face  of  the  world  at  the  present  hour, 
we  see  that  the  various  religions  of  human  devising 
fail  to  suggest  the  method  by  which  these  demands 
shall  be  obviated.  Thousands  and  millions  have 
tried  them ;  but,  with  one  single  exception,  there  is 
no  religion  that  has  ever  been  able  to  extract  the 
fangs  of  this  deadly  serpent.  No  experiment  has 


ITS   ADAPTATION  TO    MAN.  201 

ever  been  tried  more  extensively,  or  more  fully,  or 
more  fairly.  Costly  offerings  have  been  laid  on  the 
shrine  of  idol  gods,  voluntary  sufferings  have  been 
inflicted  without  number  upon  the  defaulter,  and 
living  men  have  been  immolated  upon  the  altars  of 
Moloch.  Yet  none  of  these  religions  ever  gave,  nor 
can  they  give  the  conscience  peace. 

Yet  may  this  deadly  wound  be  healed.  "  There 
is  balm  in  Gilead;  there  is  a  physician  there."  As 
Moses  lifted  up  the  serpent  in  the  wilderness,  even 
so  has  the  Son  of  Man  been  lifted  up.  Altogether 
remote  from  the  ordinary  apprehensions  of  mankind, 
and  the  most  extraordinary  of  the  Divine  proceed- 
ings with  regard  to  man,  the  cross  of  Christ  effectu- 
ally meets  these  demands,  and  imparts  "  peace  which 
passeth  all  understanding."  This  is  what  the  religion 
of  the  Bible  professes  to  accomplish  ;  and  there  is 
""  a  great  cloud  of  witnesses"  that  bear  testimony  to 
the  redemption  of  this  wondrous  pledge.  These  are 
matters  of  fact,  and  no  reasoning  in  the  world  can 
disprove  them.  This  one  religion  there  is,  which  in 
theory  and  practice,  by  observation  and  experience, 
proves  itself  a  fitting  and  full  relief  for  these  terrible 
apprehensions.  It  is  a  remarkable  fact  in  the  history 
of  our  race,  that  no  man  ever  believed  in  the  Chris- 
tian Atonement  without  .a  pacified  conscience.  The 
remedy  is  adapted  to  the  disease.  Duly  appreciated, 
that  great  sacrifice  for  sin  acts  as  a  charm  upon  the 
conscience,  and  assuages  its  agonies.  It  brings  re- 
lief. The  aching  head  reposes  upon  it.  It  stanches 
the  wounds  of  the  lacerated  and  bleeding  spirit,  and 


Bible  uot  of  Man. 


202  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

relieves  from  apprehensions  which  make  existence  a 
burden,  and  immortality  a  curse. 

Men  also  have  something  more  than  intellect 
and  conscience,  to  which  the  Bible  is  adapted. 
Their  moral  character  is  polluted  and  vile  ;  it  is  de- 
filed and  loathsome  ;  far  from  God  and  the  rectitude 
which  he  approves.  It  is  unfruitful  in  righteous- 
ness, and  fruitful  only  in  sin — like  a  land  bearing 
thorns  and  briers,  whose  end  is  to  be  burned.  We 
need  no  revelation  from  Heaven  to  teach  this  affect- 
ing and  melancholy  lesson :  it  is  not  so  much  a 
lesson  to  be  taught  and  learned,  as  a  disgraceful  and 
woeful  picture  to  be  surveyed,  and  one  over  which 
we  might  well  shed  a  flood  of  tears.  Yet  is  there 
no  relief  from  the  havoc  sin  has  made,  and  no  de- 
liverance from  the  power  of  sin,  except  from  the 
Bible.  The  fact  is  one  which,  if  it  had  not  been 
so  often  repeated,  might  well  strike  us  with  surprise, 
that  however  the  mind  of  man  may  be  improved  by 
culture,  refined  by  science,  restrained  by  discipline, 
controlled  by  law,  or  elevated  by  those  moralizing 
influences  which  false  religions  and  human  agency 
may  supply,  there  is  not  an  age,  nor  territory 
throughout  this  wide  world,  where  these  influences 
alone  have  made  it  better  and  holier.  There  is  not 
an  instance  of  exemption  from  this  sweeping  remark. 
Yet  is  this  moral  transformation  the  great  want,  the 
crying  exigency  of  man.  Other  interests  and  claims 
are  worthless  and  insignificant  compared  with  this. 
If  he  must  live  and  die  the  sinning,  sinful,  defiled 
and  loathsome  being  that  he  is,  better  for  him 


ITS   ADAPTATION    TO   MAN.  203 

never  to  have  had  a  being.  The  Bible  is  adapted 
to  this  pressing  exigency.  It  reveals  truths  which 
are  powerful  to  conviction  and  conversion ;  it  pos- 
sesses influences  which  quicken  those  who  are  dead 
in  trespasses  and  sins ;  it  sends  forth  a  spirit  which 
breathes  upon  the  dry  bones,  and  flesh  and  sinews 
come  upon  them,  and  life  enters  into  them,  and  they 
stand  up  upon  their  feet.  What  polluted  man  wants 
is  to  be  washed  from  his  uncleanness ;  and  here  is 
the  fountain  where  he  may  wash  and  be  clean : 
what  he  wants  is  to  be  delivered  from  sin  ;  and  here 
is  the  deliverer.  He  would  have  his  mind  no  longer 
like  the  dry,  barren,  unyielding  rock  where  no  heav- 
enly grace  flourishes ;  but  like  the  garden  of  God, 
where  every  grace  strikes  its  roots  deep,  and  unfolds 
its  blossoms,  and  diffuses  its  fragrance,  and  bears  its 
fruit.  And  here  is  the  influence  that  changes  the 
heart  of  stone,  and  transforms  its  cold  and  rocky 
soil  into  a  land  of  fertility  and  gladness. 

There  is  no  need  of  illustrating  the  fact,  that 
man  too  is  the  child  of  sorrow.  A  rational  being 
must  have  consolation  in  trials.  All  the  world  over, 
the  refuge  of*  men  in  seasons  of  affliction  is  their 
religion  :  they  may  have  other  refuges,  but  their 
religion  is  their  last  resort.  Many  have  been  the 
professors  of  wisdom,,  and  many  the  wise  men  that 
have  lived  where  the  Bible  is  not  known,  but  there 
were  no  comforters.  Philosophy  tells-  us,  when 
sickness  invades  our  pillow,  when  pain  agonizes, 
when  friends  die,  when  property  is  gone,  and  when, 
instead  of  influence  and  honor,  we  suffer  only  dis- 


204  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

honor  and  contempt;  that  there  is  no  help  for  it, 
that  these  are  evils  all  men  must  bear,  and  that  it 
becomes  us  to  bear  them  like  men  !  False  religions, 
almost  without  exception,  endeavor  to  alleviate  one 
trial  only  by  adding  another ;  and  for  the  obvious 
reason  that  they  have  no  consolation  to  give  :  they 
are  not  the  religion  man  needs. 

The  Bible  does  not  indeed  profess  to  reveal  a 
religion  that  exempts  from  adversity  ;  it  rather  lays 
its  account  with  afflictions :  it  tells  men  that  they 
must  expect  to  suffer.  Nor  is  there  anything,  in  any 
of  its  truths,  that  is  designed  to  blunt  the  acuteriess 
of  natural  feeling.  Yet  has  it  consolations  for  the 
hour  of  trial,  and  such  as  bear  the  test  of  the  hottest 
furnace.  Of  the  Author  of  our  trials,  it  declares, 
that  he  "doth  not  willingly  afflict,  nor  grieve  the 
children  of  men  ;"  that  "  as  a  father  pitieth  his 
children,  so  the  Lord  pitieth  them  that  fear  him." 
It  tells  of  a  "Great  High  Priest,  who  is  touched 
with  the  feeling  of  our  infirmities  ;"  who  "  knoweth 
our  frame,  and  remembereth  that  we  are  dust ;"  and 
who  "  stayeth  his  rough  wind,  in  the  day  of  his  east 
wind."  It  teaches  the  children  of  sorrow  to  say, 
"God  is  our  refuge  and  strength,  a  very  present  help 
in  trouble,"  while  their  own  response  to  its  teachings 
is,  "  Blessed  be  God,  even  the  Father  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  and  the  God  of  all  comfort,  who  com- 
forteth  us  in  all  our  tribulation !"  And  while  it 
teaches  men  these  things,  it  tells  them  too,  that 
however  severe  and  heavy  their  trials  may  be,  they 
are  "  but  for  a  season,"  for  "  a  little  moment,"  and 


ITS   ADAPTATION   TO   MAN.  205 

shall  "  work  for  them  a  far  more  exceeding  and 
eternal  weight  of  glory."  It  tells  them  of  the  "  trial 
of  faith,"  that  is  "  much  more  precious  than  that  of 
gold  tried  in  the  fire  ;"  that  it  redounds  to  "  praise, 
honor,  and  glory ;"  so  that  in  the  retrospect  of  their 
severest  trials,  they  can  say,  "  Happy  is  the  man 
that  God  correcteth !"  As  with  the  serenity  of  an 
angel's  countenance,  it  tells  them,  that  although 
they  have  fiery  trials  to  pass  through,  yet  have  they 
an  "  inheritance,  incorruptible,  undefiled,  and  that 
fadeth  not  away."  That  terrible  state  of  mind, 
suspense  under  apprehended  and  foreboding  evils, 
finds  its  antidote  only  in  the  Bible.  Where,  in  all 
the  records  of  earth,  is  there  a  sentence  like  this : 
"  Casting  all  your  care  upon  the  Lord,  for  he  careth 
for  you ;"  or  like  this :  "  Be  careful  for  nothing ; 
but  in  everything,  by  prayer  and  supplication,  with 
thanksgiving,  let  your  requests  be  made  known  unto 
God.  And  the  peace  of  God,  which  passeth  all 
understanding,  shall  keep  your  hearts  and  minds 
through  Christ  Jesus."  O,  trials  are  freed  from  their 
bitterness,  darkness  of  its  horrors,  and  fear  of  its 
apprehensions,  by  the  whispers  of  this  gentle  voice  ! 
The  influence  which  a  sensitive  creature  like  man 
requires,  is  that  also  which  shall  give  his  emotions  a 
right  and  happy  direction.  The  Academic  philoso- 
phers erred  with  the  Stoics;  the  one  in  trying  to 
eradicate  the  emotions  and  affections  of  men,  the  other 
in  making  human  happiness  consist  in  unrestrained 
indulgence.  If  his  Creator  be  wise  arid  good,  his 
government  over  him  is  such,  as  to  give  that  direc- 


206  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

tion  to  his  ardent  affections  that  shall  be  most 
accordant  with  his  intellectual,  moral,  and  immortal 
existence.  His  affections  wisely  directed  and  in- 
dulged, constitute  the  loveliness,  the  glory  of  his 
nature.  More  than  anything  else,  they  constitute 
the  man  himself,  and  make  him  what  he  is.  If 
misdirected,  they  make  him  a  degraded,  vicious, 
miserable  being ;  if  they  are  directed  wisely,  they 
ennoble,  purify,  and  make  him  happy.  That  keenly 
sensitive  nature,  which  renders  him  capable  of  love 
and  hatred,  joy  and  sorrow,  hope  and  fear,  must 
be  controlled:  it  must  have  something  to  love; 
something  which  may  be  loved  safely  and  with- 
out remorse ;  something  which  may  be  loved  with- 
out injury  to  its  ever  growing  desires ;  something 
which  is  worthy  of  its  love ;  something  which  re- 
sponds to  the  sincerity  and  fervor  of  its  affections, 
and  which  may  be  pursued  with  all  the  ardor 
and  intensity  which  are  inseparable  from  a  sensitive 
existence. 

The  Bible,  and  the  Bible  only,  meets  these  in- 
ward longings  of  the  heart,  be  they  ever  so  intense 
and  exalted.  Every  human  affection  finds  its  place 
in  the  religion  it  reveals.  The  love  of  self  finds  its 
proper  place  there ;  and  so  does  the  love  of  kindred, 
and  the  love  of  country,  and  the  love  of  the  world, 
and  the  love  of  God  and  man,  yea,  the  love  of  every- 
thing that  is  in  any  measure  worthy  of  love.  It  does 
not  annihilate  one  of  these  affections;  it  does  not 
forbid  them ;  nor  does  it  degrade  them,  as  false  re- 
ligions do  :  nor  does  it  disappoint  them,  as  they  are 


ITS  ADAPTATION  TO  MAN.  207 

always   disappointed  when   they  receive  a  wrong 
direction  and  impulse. 

Nor  in  giving  them  a  right  direction,  does  it  ever 
unsettle,  unhinge,  or  derange  them.  While  it  gives 
them  ardor  and  zeal,  it  also  gives  them  strength  and 
firmness ;  and  while  its  impulses  are  sometimes  so 
intensely  vivid  and  strong,  that,  but  for  their  pure 
and  heavenly  nature,  they  would  well  nigh  drive 
the  soul  to  those  excesses  of  emotion  which  border 
on  madness ;  they  are  the  very  impulses  which,  when 
indulged  in  their  purity,  impart  to  it  loveliness  and 
meekness,  tenderness  and  humility,  and  not  unfre- 
quently  an  almost  unearthly  splendor,  as  they  do 
well  nigh  unearthly  joys.  Religious  zeal  may  some- 
times degenerate  into  blind  enthusiasm;  but  when 
it  does  so,  it  is  no  longer  Christian.  Other  impulses 
than  those  which  the  essential  charity  of  the  Gospel 
inspires,  render  its  movements  wild  and  incoherent ; 
while  the  true  spirit  of  the  Bible  is  the  spirit  of 
love,  of  meekness,  and  of  a  sound  mind.  Men  may 
be  excited  in  their  contemplation  of  its  truth ;  they 
may  be  transported  and  transformed ;  while  in  their 
most  enrapturing  contemplations  they  never  lose 
the  due  equilibrium  of  thought.  The  eye  of  reason  is 
still  unclouded  and  clear ;  their  conceptions  are  strong 
and  brilliant ;  nor  is  there  anything  they  acknowl- 
edge more  absolutely  than  the  authority  of  truth. 
Paul  was  never  more  rational  than  when  he  was 
"  caught  up  into  the  third  heaven,"  and  "  whether 
in  the  body  he  could  not  tell,  or  whether  out  of 
the  body  he  could  not  tell."  It  is  a  remarkable  fact, 


208  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN- 

that  every  other  class  of  affections  of  which  the 
heart  is  susceptible,  may  be  indulged  too  far  and  too 
eagerly;  and  when  pursued  beyond  a  given  point, 
they  sound  the  note  of  alarm,  and  tell  us  that  reason 
already  begins  to  totter  on  her  throne ;  while  the 
affections,  and  emotions,  and  sacred  passions  which 
are  excited  and  gratified  by  the  truths  of  the  Bible, 
to  whatever  degree  they  are  stimulated,  and  to  what- 
ever extent  they  are  indulged,  do  but  give  strength 
and  consistency  to  character,  and  promote  holy  en- 
joyment. The  religion  it  reveals  is  just  fitted  for 
man's  sensitive  and  ardent  nature.  It  imparts  to  him 
his  true  dignity ;  brings  him  into  new  alliances  with 
his  Maker ;  enstamps  upon  him  his  image ;  makes 
him  his  friend,  adopts  him  as  his  son,  and  in  its  pro- 
gressive power  makes  him  like  unto  the  angels. 

It  is  with  weakness  and  fear,  and  much  trem- 
bling, that  every  man  contemplates  the  truth  that  he 
must  die.  We  carry  forth,  and  commit  to  the  grave, 
the  sleeping  dust  of  those  we  love  ;  and  the  inquiry 
forces  itself  upon  us,  Will  the  much  and  long-cher- 
ished flower  shoot  upward  again,  and  bloom  to 
immortality  ?  From  the  bed  of  languishing,  we  our- 
selves look  down  into  the  dark  and  hollow  sepul- 
chre, and  inquire,  "If  a  man  die,  shall  he  live 
again?"  Reason,  nature,  conscience,  analogy,  do 
indeed  suggest  the  thought — the  strong  probability 
of  an  hereafter ;  but  they  warrant  no  conviction  that 
satisfies,  no  certain  conclusions  where  the  mind 
pants  for  certainty.  With  only  such  lights  as  these, 
man  is  wrapped  in  obscurity ;  his  very  existence  is 


ITS  ADAPTATION  TO   MAN.  209 

involved  in  impenetrable  darkness  and  mystery ;  he 
sees  no  object  of  his  being,  no  end  to  be  attained  by 
it,  but  to  live  a  little  while  amid  the  alternate  joys 
and  sorrows  of  this  low  world,  and  perpetuate  his 
dying  race  through  the  same  vicissitudes  of  toil,  and 
care,  and  sorrow,  through  which  he  himself  has  trod- 
den— sometimes  his  rapid,  and  sometimes  his  more 
tardy  way,  to  the  gloomy  mansions  of  the  grave.  The 
thought  of  annihilation  is  a  dreadful  thought ;  yet 
it  sometimes  stares  him  in  the  face,  presses  on  him 
on  all  sides,  hangs  about  him  like  a  leaden  curtain ; 
and  as  one  long  exposed  on  the  verge  of  a  precipice, 
leaps  into  the  abyss  to  escape  the  terrors  of  suspense, 
so  he  often  longs  to  seek  a  refuge  in  annihilation, 
from  the  weight  of  depression  and  gloom  which  it 
inspires.  Here  the  Bible  is  a  light  shining  in  a  dark 
place ;  it  brings  life  and  immortality  to  light :  to 
every  virtuous  mind  it  announces  the  glad  tidings 
of  a  glorious  hereafter,  and  through  the  narrow  and 
dark  inlet  of  the  grave,  points  him  to  an  unseen 
world — a  world  of  which  he  himself  is  to  form  a 
part,  where  he  is  to  be  allied  to  cherubim  and  ser- 
aphim, and  elevated  to  a  celestial  throne.  The 
thought  of  immortality  is  a  great  and  stupendous 
thought.  Even  viewed  at  a  distance,  and  as  a 
doubtful  fact,  it  must  overwhelm  with  its  magnitude 
and  grandeur.  When  contemplated  as  certain,  the 
mind  is  filled  with  wonder  at  it;  and  the  more  it 
contemplates  it,  the  more  does  the  contemplation 
add  perpetual  interest  to  the  wonder.  To  this 
greatest  of  all  the  wants  of  man,  this  Book  is 


210  THE  BIBLE  NOT   OF   MAN. 

adapted,  giving  the  coming  world  a  reality,  an  im- 
portance, a  nearness,  that  gratify  his  strong  and 
restless  desires  for  immortality  which  it  is  impossi- 
ble to  eradicate,  and  which  are  gratified  only  here. 

Such  is  the  adaptation  of  the  Bible  to  man  as 
an  individual.  While  contemplating  this  part  of 
our  subject,  I  have  more  than  once  endeavored  to 
rouse  my  imagination  to  the  effort  of  picturing  all 
the  possible  conditions  of  men,  with  the  view  of 
ascertaining  if  this  remarkable  Book  has  not  "  a 
word  in  season"  to  every  individual  of  the  human 
race,  in  every  condition,  in  every  state  of  mind, 
and  in  every  associated  community.  Nor  is  it  in 
my  power  to  think  of  any  man,  in  any  condition  or 
state  of  mind,  or  any  society,  whether  high  or  low, 
learned  or  ignorant,  in  prosperity  or  adversity,  in 
sickness  or  health,  in  freedom  or  in  bondage,  at  home 
or  abroad,  in  the  church  or  out  of  it,  happy  or  mis- 
erable, to  whom  the  Scriptures  So  not  address  the 
most  fitting  counsels,  and  for  whom  they  have  not 
some  admonition,  or  consolation,  peculiar  to  the 
Sacred  Writings,  and  furnished  by  no  other  book. 
Its  shades  of  thought,  in  this  respect,  are  almost  end- 
less. It  were  a  delightful  employment  to  mark  and 
specify  this  wonderful  variety  6?  moral  pencilling,  so 
marvellously  fitted  to  the  almost  endlessly  diversi- 
fied character  and  condition  of  men.  Were  a  relig- 
ious teacher,  familiar  with  the  Bible  and  deeply 
imbued  with  its  spirit,  intimately  acquainted  with 
the  character  and  state  of  mind  of  his  entire' charge, 
he  would  be  at  no  loss  to  select  the  best  adapted  in- 


ITS  ADAPTATION  TO  MAN.  211 

struction  for  every  one  of  them,  in  the  language  and 
words  of  the  sacred  volume  itself.  Even  though  he 
speak  at  random,  he  would  not  fail  to  utter  truths 
applicable  to  the  unobserved  and  unknown  condition 
of  those  who  hear  him ;  and  in  drawing  his  bow  at  a 
venture,  his  arrow  would  find  its  mark,  even  through 
"  the  joints  of  the  harness." 

2.  From  this  view  of  the  adaptation  of  the  Bible 
to  man  as  an  individual,  let  us,  in  the  second  place, 
advert  to  the  consideration,  that  it  is  equally  adapted 
to  his  social  relations.  Man  is  a  social  being :  he 
cannot  live  for  himself;  nor  can  he  live  alone.  The 
principles  of  his  social  nature  must  be  cared  for. 
There  are  his  relations  to  civil  government ;  there 
are  his  domestic  relations ;  there  are  his  relations  to 
his  fellow  men  in  the  ordinary  transactions  of  human 
life,  which  need  to  be  watched  over,  and  controlled, 
and  so  influenced,  as  neither  to  pervert  tha  principles 
of  benevolent  association,  nor  lose  sight  of  its  object. 
These  various  relations  are  nowhere  consulted  with 
the  same  benevolent  spirit  and  practical  wisdom  with 
which  they  are  consulted  in  the  Scriptures:  so  far 
from  it,  that  in  communities  where  the  Bible  is  not 
known,  every  one  of  them  presents  little  else  than 
frightful  spectacles  of  crime  and  misery. 

In  a  most  remarkable  manner  does  the  history  of 
the  world  show  that  the  Bible  is  the  great  charter  of 
human  freedom.  If  the  correlative  rights  and  obliga- 
tions of  rulers  and  subjects  were  under  the  effective 
control  of  the  Bible,  those  who  bear  authority  and 
those  who  are  subjected  to  it,  would  be  helpers  of  one 


212  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

another's  joy ;  the  yoke  of  the  oppressor  would  melt 
away ;  kings  would  be  foster  fathers,  and  queens 
foster  mothers,  to  a  tranquil  and  regenerated  world. 
Among  the  most  important  state  papers  of  mod- 
ern times,  are  the  Preamble  and  the  Articles  of  Con- 
federation issued  by  Francis  of  Germany,  Frederic 
William  of  Prussia,  and  Alexander  of  Russia,  signed 
and  published  at  Paris  in  the  year  1815,  and  sol- 
emnly recognizing,  before  Europe  and  the  world,  the 
religion  of  Jesus  Christ  as  the  only  true  basis  of  all 
political  relations,  and  the  only  directory  for  the 
nations  of  the  earth.  Whatever  may  have  been  the 
motives  of  these  distinguished  kings  and  emperors 
in  issuing  it,  it  is  a  noble  testimony  to  the  power  of 
Christian  principles  upon  states  and  governments. 
Considering  the  sources  from  which  it  came,  a 
stronger  and  more  emphatic  tribute  to  the  principles 
of  Christianity  as  the  only  true  principles  of  govern- 
ment, and  the  only  foundation  of  national  prosperity, 
cannot  be  expected,  or  demanded.  It  is  an  interest- 
ing fact,  that  these  three  great  monarchs,  ruling  over 
more  than  seventy  millions  of  people,  then  amid  the 
clashing  and  din  of  war,  should  assemble  in  secret 
conclave,  and  pay  such  a  tribute  to  the  Bible. 

Nowhere,  save  in  the  Scriptures,  is  there  a  de- 
scription of  the  domestic  virtues  that  commends  itself 
to  a  refined  and  delicate  mind  ;  and  nowhere  else  is 
there  to  be  found  such  prescriptions  for  the  domestic 
evils  which  infest  and  degrade  all  unchristian  and 
anti-christian  lands.  Nowhere  is  the  domestic  char- 
acter and  constitution  of  man  so  magnified,  as  in 


ITS  ADAPTATION   TO   MAN.  213 

lands  where  the  influence  of  the  Bible  is  submitted 
to.  Nowhere  else  are  those  mutual  dependencies, 
and  those  bonds  of  endearing  attachment  on  which 
the  well-being  of*  society  depends,  protected  by  such 
solemn  sanctions.  Nowhere  else  are  the  spirit  and 
deportment,  from  which  all  social  enjoyment  and 
virtue  and  usefulness  flow,  so  constantly  inculcated 
and  so  beautifully  exemplified.  Nowhere  else  are 
{'  whatsoever  things  are  pure,  whatsoever  things  are 
lovely,"  so  much  thought  of  and  enjoined. 

The  Old  Testament  Scriptures  took  up  the  social 
state  where  they  found  it  j  nor  was  it  to  be  perfected 
in  a  moment.  If  some  of  the  judicial  laws  of  the 
Jews,  themselves  but  just  escaped  from  the  degra- 
dation of  paganism,  were  behind  the  purer  code  of 
Christianity,  it  is  not  less  certain  that  they  were  also 
far  in  advance  of  the  contemporaneous  pagan  nations. 
The  judicial  and  political  economy  of  the  Jews  was 
for  them  alone ;  it  suffered  many  things  "  for  the 
hardness  of  their  hearts,"  which  form  no  part  of  a 
perfect  moral  code  ;  and  it  is  to  God's  finished  reve- 
lation alone  that  we  must  look  for  those  perfect  prin- 
ciples which  enter  into  and  form  the  perfection  of 
the  social  state. 

If  from  these  sanctions  of  the  domestic  relations 
we  go  abroad  into  the  world,  and  inspect  the  relations 
which  man  sustains  to  his  fellow  men  in  the  ordi- 
nary affairs  of  human  life,  we  find  these  relations 
nowhere  protected  as  in  the  Bible.  Let  but  the  in- 
junctions of  the  Bible  regulate  the  intercourse  and 
usages  of  society,  and  not  a  few  of  those  subtil  and 


214  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

perplexing  questions  of  casuistry  which  now  agitate 
every  part  of  the  business  community,  would  be  cut 
short  by  an  arbiter,  which  even  those  who  think 
themselves  honest  and  honorable  men  would  deem 
an  overstrained  and  an  over-sensitive  exactness. 

There  is  a  peculiarity  in  the  Bible  in  regard  to 
its  influence  on  the  social  relations.  Men  in  their 
social  capacity  are  not  only  exposed  to  everything 
that  is  wicked,  but  to  everything  that  is  ultra  and 
extravagant.  Even  the  minds  of  the  better  sort  of 
men  need  something  which  human  wisdom  fails 
to  give  them ;  else  are  their  most  honest  and  best 
intended  efforts  disorganizing,  and  disastrous  to  the 
social  state.  Human  society  without  the  Bible,  is 
like  a  ship  on  the  ocean  without  ballast ;  she  can 
scarcely  live  in  smooth  water  :  the  first  storm  ingulfs 
her  in  the  waves.  The  thought  is  not  always 
present  to  our  minds,  that  the  world  is  under  great 
obligations  to  the  Bible,  if  for  nothing  but  its  con- 
servative principles  and  influence.  It  is  Uniformly 
healthful  in  its  influence,  and  alike  opposed  to  all 
the  indiscretions  of  a  misdirected  zeal  on  the  one 
hand,  and  a  rabid  radicalism  on  the  other.  Ultra 
men  and  ultra  measures,  be  the  objects  they  aim 
at  ever  so  good,  always  find  the  Bible  against 
them.  "  Wisdom  is  justified  of  her  children  j" 
and  time  and  experience  show,  that  those  who 
would  be  better  than  the  Bible  are  always  wrong. 
There  is  wonderful  wisdom  in  the  Bible,* not 
only  in  what  it  teaches,  but  in  what  it  does  not 
teach.  There  are  agitating  and  exciting  questions 


ITS   ADAPTATION  TO  MAN.  215 

which  it  leaves  just  where  they  ought  to  be  left :  its 
silence  on  many  subjects  speaks  volumes.  And  this 
is  the  more  remarkable,  when  we  consider  the  great 
amount  of  its  instructions.  An  impostor,  who  had 
written  so  much,  would  have  written  more.  The 
Bible  lets  many  things.,  alone  which  no  impostor 
would  have  had  discretion  enough  to  let  alone.  It 
does  not  commit  itself,  where  an  impostor  would 
have  been  imperative.  While  its  great  principles 
are  applicable  to  every  evil  in  the  organization  of 
human  society,  and  while  its  invariable  tendency  is 
to  eradicate  these  evils,  it  is  careful  how  it  creates  a 
needless  ferment,  and  breaks  up  the  foundations  of 
the  community  which  it  would  preserve  and  bless. 
So  far  as  its  decisions  go,  they  are  safe.  It  holds  an 
even  balance  between  the  extremes  of  a  guilty  and 
pusillanimous  indifferentism,  and  a  blind,  overheated 
exclusiveness.  Even  with  this  immutable  standard 
in  their  hands,  honest  men  may  err;  but  it  is  a 
delightful  thought,  and  a  safe  retreat  from  their 
unjust  awards,  that  the  decisions  of  the  Bible  are 
paramount  to  the  verdict  of  fallible  men.  I  have 
never  been  more  impressed  with  this  characteristic 
of  the  Scriptures,  than  from  the  incidental  remarks 
of  some  modern  infidels,  in  their  public  speeches, 
called  forth  by  some  of  the  exciting  topics  of  the  age 
in  which  we  live.  More  than  once  have  I  known 
them  appeal  to  the  Bible,  as  the  acknowledged  stand- 
ard of  common  sense  and  common  discretion.  And 
when  they  do  so,  it  is  perfectly  obvious  that  they 
themselves  feel  that  they  have  solid  rock  to  stand 


216  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

upon.  There  is  a  sort  of  intuitive  impression  on  the 
minds  of  all  men,  whether  they  believe  the  Scrip- 
tures or  not,  that  it  is  in  vain  for  them  to  improve 
upon  the  arrangements  of  its  unequalled  wisdom. 

What  is  man  in  his  social  relations  without  the 
Bible  ?  Pride  boasts  of  him,  but  he  is  a  worm. 
Science  boasts  of  him,  but  he  is  like  the  brutes  that 
perish.  Pleasure,  wealth,  honor,  friends  boast  of 
him ;  but  they  have  not  even  a  gossamer  veil  to 
cover  his  shame.  Philanthropy  boasts  of  him  ;  but 
it  is  a  wild,  eccentric,  meteor-like  philanthropy,  and 
not  like  "the  clear  shining  of  the  sun  after  rain." 
What  the  Scriptures  reveal,  is  wondrously  adapted 
to  the  social  character  and  condition  of  man ;  there 
is  nothing  wanting  in  them,  and  nothing  superfluous. 
Take  away  any  of  its  instructions  in  this  department, 
and  it  would  be  found  that  there  is  something  in  the 
social  relations  to  which  it  has  no  counterpart ;  add 
to  them,  and  the  counterpart  is  wanting  in  the  social 
relations ;  alter  them,  and  these  relations  themselves 
will  need  to  be  altered. 

3.  This  thought,  as  well  as  those  submitted  in 
the  preceding  paragraphs,  receives  additional  force 
from  the  consideration,  that  this  adaptation  is  as 
large  and  extensive,  as  it  is  minute  and  particular. 
The  views  of  the  Bible  are  comprehensive ;  its 
aspects  are  wide ;  the  bearing  of  the  entire  range 
of  its  revelations  is  upon  beings  and  interests  that 
are  widely  spread  over  all  the  nations  of  the  earth, 
however  related,  or  classified,  and  however  multi- 
plied and  involved  their  dependencies.  The  adapta- 


ITS  ADAPTATION  TO  MAN.  217 

tion  of  which  we  speak  extends  to  the  mass,  as  well 
as  to  the  individual ;  to  the  whole,  as  well  as  a  part ; 
to  "all  men,  everywhere."  In  this  respect,  Chris- 
tianity differs  essentially  from  all  other  religions. 
The  stamp  of  locality  is  to  be  found  on  them  all. 
They  necessarily  accommodate  themselves  to  times, 
and  places,  and  men ;  and  therefore  they  are  muta- 
ble. But  the  religion  of  Christ  is  for  the  world. 
Man  is  the  same  over  the  whole  earth ;  but  his  habits 
in  Lapland  are  different  from  his  habits  in  the  West 
Indies.  Yet  the  Bible  is  adapted  to  him  wherever 
he  is.  Different  portions  of  the  world  have  strong 
peculiarities,  arising  from  moral,  as  well  as  natural 
causes ;  they  are  influenced  by  their  philosophy,  by 
their  laws,  by  arts  and  sciences,  and  not  a  little  by 
the  fine  arts.  But  Christianity  bears  one  univer- 
sal and  uniform  character  and  adaptation  to  all. 
Though  itself  immutable,  and  though  never  aban- 
doning and  never  relaxing  any  one  of  its  principles, 
it  is  equally  accommodated  to  every  class  of  human 
society,  every  parallel  of  latitude,  and  every  son  and 
daughter  of  Adam. 

It  has  not,  indeed,  always  maintained  its  purity : 
in  Christianizing  the  heathen,  it  has  itself  been  par- 
tially heathenized ;  in  purifying  others,  it  has  itself 
imbibed  taints  of  impurity.  "Jewish  observances, 
Grecian,  Roman,  Celtic,  and  Gothic  superstitions  are 
found  in  various  parts  of  the  nominally  Christian 
church,  according  to  the  stock  from  which  her  pop- 
ulation have  sprung."  But  these  impurities  are  not 
her  own ;  they  are  the  additions  of  men ;  made, 

BiWe  not  of  Man.  JQ 


218  THE   BIBLE   NOT   OF  MAN. 

indeed,  under  the  pretence  of  heightening  her  beauties, 
while  they  add  defects  and  blemishes  to  her  original 
and  heavenly  form.  In  her  native  lineaments  she  is 
equally  fitted  to  be  the  resident  of  every  clime,  under 
every  form  of  government,  as  well  as  amidst  all  those 
previous  habits  of  thinking  and  acting  which  would 
at  first  view  seem  to  be  insuperably  hostile  to  her 
influence. 

Judaism,  with  its  burdensome  and  expensive 
ritual,  its  gorgeous  priesthood,  and  its  now  abolished 
ceremonies,  never  was  intended,  because  it  was  never 
fitted  to  be,  and  never  could  be,  the  universal  relig- 
ion, any  more  than  the  temple  at  Jerusalem  could 
be  the  temple  of  the  world.  All  that  is  moral  in  the 
Old  Testament,  in  distinction  from  its  positive  and 
ceremonial  institutions,  as  we  have  before  remarked, 
is  as  truly  Christian  as  it  is  Jewish,  and  is  transferred 
and  perpetuated  in  the  Christian  system ;  while 
whatever  is  exclusively  Jewish,  is  necessarily  local 
and  temporary. 

It  is  equally  obvious,  that  Mahometanism  has  no 
intrinsic  adaptation  to  become  the  universal  religion. 
It  has  indeed  long  subsisted,  and  is  at  this  day  the 
established  religion  of  no  small  portion  of  the  world. 
But  though  it  admits  the  divine  mission  of  Moses 
and  Jesus,  and  recognizes  many  of  the  fundamental 
articles  of  the  Jewish  and  Christian  faith,  it  is  mixed 
up  with  so  many  childish  traditions  and  fables,  and 
with  the  toleration  of  so  many  idolatrous  rites,  and 
with  such  an  indulgence  of  licentiousness,  and  de- 
pends, moreover,  so  exclusively  upon  the  power  of 


ITS  ADAPTATION   TO   MAN.  219 

the  sword  ,  that  nothing  can  be  more  revolting  to 
reason  and  conscience. 

Christianity  on  the  other  hand,  while  it  com- 
mends itself  to  reason  and  conscience,  without 
which  no  religion  can  ever  become  universal,  is  in 
every  view  fitted  to  become  the  religion  of  the  hu- 
man race.  The  elements  which  give  it  this  supe- 
riority are,  its  unblemished  rectitude — the  fact  that 
it  is  a  religion  of  principle — the  simplicity  of  its  es- 
sential truths,  and  their  entire  independence  of  all 
systems  of  human  philosophy — the  all-sufficiency 
and  freeness  of  its  salvation,  held  forth  and  pressed 
on  the  acceptance  of  every  man — the  plainness,  yet 
the  dignity  and  decency  of  its  outward  dress  and 
observances — the  economy  of  its  expenditure — the 
liberality  of  its  external  organization — its  divine  im- 
partiality, and  its  indwelling  and  all-conquering 
Spirit.  These  are  fitted  to  carry  it  everywhere  :  to 
the  polished  and  to  the  degraded  states  of  human 
society,  to  every  order  of  the  human  intellect,  to 
every  form  of  government,  and  every  conceivable 
condition  of  man's  history  and  being.  It  is  the 
same  thing  everywhere — everywhere  it  carries  the 
same  light,  the  same  obligations,  the  same  convic- 
tions, the  same  holiness,  the  same  mercy,  the  same 
hopes,  the  same  consolations.  Wherever  its  bless- 
ings are  enjoyed,  they  are  equally  needed,  equally 
precious  ;  wherever  it  comes,  they  are  equally  near. 
I  say  they  are  equally  near.  Men  need  not  go  for 
them  to  the  Pope  of  Rome ;  nor  traverse  plains 
and  mountains  to  throw  themselves  under  the  car 


220  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

of  Juggernaut,  or  bathe  in  the  Ganges  ;  nor  need 
they  make  pilgrimages  to  Mecca,  to  Jerusalem,  or 
Gerizim.  The  pilgrim  on  the  rock  finds  them 
there  ;  the  savage  in  the  desert  finds  them  there  ;  the 
mariner  on  the  ocean  finds  them  there  ;  and  the 
humble  worshipper,  in  his  log-cabin,  finds  them 
more  near  and  more  precious  than  the  less  humble 
worshipper  in  the  towering  and  gorgeous  cathedral. 
"  The  word  is  nigh  thee,  even  in  thy  mouth,  and  in 
thy  heart." 

4.  To  give  still  greater  weight  to  these  thoughts, 
we  remark,  that  this  revelation  is  equally  adapted  to 
all  periods  of  time  and  all  ages  of  the  world.  It  is 
fitted  to  be  the  perpetual  religion,  and  to  cover  the 
whole  series  of  ages,  till  this  world  shall  pass  away. 
No  matter  how  advanced  in  science,  in  morals,  in 
government,  the  world  may  be,  it  cannot  have  a 
better  religion  than  this.  When  the  Saviour  stood 
before  that  magnificent  edifice,  the  temple  of  Jeru- 
salem, he  said  to  his  disciples,  "  Verily,  there  shall 
not  be  left  here  one  stone  upon  another  that  shall 
not  be  thrown  down.  Heaven  and  earth  shall  pass 
away,  but  my  words  shall  not  pass  away"  Won- 
derful declaration!  and  not  at  all  wonderful  that 
there  were  those  who  disbelieved  it.  When,  with 
merely  eleven  men,  he  sat  down  at  the  Passover,  he 
•instituted  a  Supper,  of  which  he  said,  "  As  oft  as  ye 
eat  this  bread,  and  drink  this  cup,  ye  do  shew  the 
Lord's  death  till  he  come."  We  have  lived  to  sec 
these  predictions  fulfilled,  so  far  as  the  progress  of 
time  has  allowed  us  to  be  witnesses  ;  and  now,  after 


ITS  ADAPTATION    TO   MAN.  221 

the  expiration  of  eighteen  centuries,  to  learn  that 
the  system  of  truth  and  grace  of  which  he  was  the 
Founder,  is  but  in  the  freshness  of  its  youth.  The 
circumstances  under  which  it  was  introduced,  were 
in  the  highest  degree  inauspicious  to  its  continuance 
a  single  century.  Its  Founder  was  slain :  save 
two,  all  its  first  disciples  came  to  a  violent  death : 
it  was  persecuted  by  the  wrath  of  man  and  the  rage 
of  fiends.  But  it  carried  within  it  the  indestruc- 
tible elements  of  perpetuity.  It  survived  all  its  ene- 
mies, and  it  survives  still,  because  its  great  princi- 
ples are  imperishable  and  eternal,  are  inwoven  with 
realities  that  never  pass  away,  and  have  an  adap- 
tation to  the  wants  and  woes  of  every  successive 
generation  of  men. 

Human  laws  change,  human  governments  put 
on  different  forms,  systems  of  philosophy  rise  and 
fall  with  every  passing  century,  and  the  various  theo- 
ries of  social  life  expire  almost  with  the  same  facility 
with  which  they  come  into  existence,  because  they 
have  no  inherent  adaptation  to  the  unanticipated 
and  perpetually  varying  condition  of  mankind.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  religion  of  the  Bible,  because  it 
anticipates  the  wants  of  man,  because  it  meets  these 
wants  wherever  he  is,  whatever  his  condition,  and 
at  whatever  period  in  the  progress  of  time  he  may 
dwell  on  the  earth ;  instead  of  carrying  with  it  the 
elements  of  its  own  destruction,  gathers  strength  as 
it  holds  on  its  way,  and  in  its  onward  progress  com- 
bines the  vigor  of  youth  with  the  rich  and  ripening 
maturity  of  age.  The  secret  of  this  perpetuity  is 


222  THE  BIBLE   NOT   OF   MAN. 

its  inherent  and  wonderful  adaptation  to  the  human 
character  in  every  successive  period  of  time.  It  is 
built,  not  upon  experience,  but  upon  anticipation. 
This  system  of  government  and  redemption  needs 
no  change,  because  the  character  of  its  subjects  is  a 
fixed  and  uniform  character :  the  remedy  is  the  same, 
because  the  disease  never  alters. 

Such  is  the  adaptation  of  the  Bible  to  the  char- 
acter and  wants  of  men.  Review  these  thoughts 
one  by  one,  review  them  in  the  aggregate,  and  say 
if  they  furnish  no  evidence  of  the  divine  origin  of 
the  Scriptures.  Contrast  this  Book  with  the  differ- 
ent religious  systems  which  are  confessedly  of  human 
origin,  and  can  you  fail  to  see  that  these  latter  are 
radically  defective  in  adaptation  to  the  wants  of  men, 
and  on  this  account  fail  of  their  object  ?  Men  find 
no  relief  from  them.  After  all  the  abstinence,  pil- 
grimages, ablutions,  penance,  and  blood  they  enjoin, 
there  is  not  one  among  them  all  that  satisfies  the 
understanding,  the  conscience,  the  heart,  the  immor- 
tality, or  that  in  any  view  furnishes  a  basis  for  hope. 
The  restive  heart  finds  nothing  in  them  to  tranquil- 
lize its  unhallowed  excitement ;  nothing  to  feed  upon 
save  that  which  augments  its  misery,  because  it  is 
the  aliment  of  its  wickedness.  They  open  no  me- 
dium of  communication  between  creatures  and  the 
God  who  is  invisible ;  between  the  world  that  is 
seen,  and  the  world  that  is  not  seen ;  nor  do  they 
accomplish  anything  towards  healing  the  breach 
between  God  and  man,  or  bringing  heaven  any 
nearer  to  earth,  or  earth  any  nearer  to  heaven.  There 


ITS  ADAPTATION  TO  MAN.  223 

is  nothing  in  them  by  which  the  nature  of  man 
becomes  purified,  or  elevated,  or  which  discloses  any- 
thing that  possesses  even  the  slightest  pretension  to 
a  radical  cure  for  the  great  moral  malady  that  per- 
vades our  race.  Go  where  you  will  throughout  the 
pagan  world,  and  it  will  be  found  that  these  are 
wants  which  the  religions  of  paganism,  in  all  their 
varieties,  fail  to  supply.  The  chasm  is  wide  and 
deep,  and  there  is  nothing  to  fill  it.  Instead  of  con- 
sulting the  condition,  and  meeting  the  exigencies 
of  man,  they  actually  debase  that  condition,  and  aug- 
ment those  exigencies,  and  perpetuate  them.  Instead 
of  being  the  friend  of  man,  they  are  his  enemy ;  and 
instead  of  lighting  up  his  prospects,  they  overshadow 
them  by  the  clouds  of  dark  ignorance  and  wretched 
superstition.  Men  of  thought  in  pagan  lands,  them- 
selves saw,  and  said,  that  they  were  systems  of  delu- 
sion and  lies,  and  acquiesced  in  them  only  because 
they  could  be  imposed  on  the  more  ignorant  and 
unthinking.  Can  any  man  of  sober  thought  speak 
thus,  or  think  thus  of  the  Bible  ?  No,  never.  He 
may  try  to  do  it,  but  the  thing  is  impossible. 

Whether  the  Book  that  thus  minutely  and  ex- 
tensively consults  the  character  and  condition  of  our 
fallen  race,  is  human  or  Divine,  we  may  leave  to 
every  ingenuous  mind  to  decide.  Does  not  this 
wondrous  adaptation  itself  bear  testimony  for  it,  that 
it  is  from  God?  Is  not  the  Bible  so  fitted  to  the 
wants  of  man,  that  He  who  made  one  must  have 
actually  fashioned  both?  Does  it  not  speak  for 
itself,  as  the  matchless  expedient  which  his  wisdom 


224  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

and  love  have  devised  for  creatures  who  are  apos 
tates  from  his  family?  Not  until  some  other  system 
can  be  specified  that  thus  meets  the  necessities  of 
our  race,  may  we  relinquish  our  confidence  in  the 
Bible,  or  give  up  the  argument  for  its  divine  origin 
derived  from  this  adaptation.  Whether  it  utter  the 
voice  of  man  or  of  God,  of  some  foul  impostor  or  the 
God  of  love,  cannot  long  be  a  matter  of  doubt.  A 
religion  that  so  wisely  and  fully  consults  the  varied 
and  richest  elements  of  man's  nature,  carries  the 
evidence  with  it  that  it  is  from  the  Author  of  that 
nature.  It  will  be  difficult  to  reason  a  man  out  of  his 
belief  in  divine  revelation,  or  to  laugh  him  out  of  it, 
who  has  clear  conceptions  of  its  fitness  to  his  wants. 
It  were  no  easy  matter  for  an  impostor  to  devise 
a  religion,  which,  while  it  suited  with  so  much  pre- 
cision to  the  individual,  should  at  the  same  time  be 
equally  adapted  to  the  entire  race ;  and  while  it 
should  consult  the  peculiarities  of  one  age  of  time, 
should  not  be  less  relevant  to  all  successive  ages. 
Men  have  never  found  themselves  so  wise.  A  parent 
who  has  but  one  child  to  instruct  and  govern,  is  jus- 
tified in  pursuing  a  very  different  course  with  that 
one,  from  the  course  he  would  pursue  as  the  head  of 
a  numerous  family.  The  monarch  of  a  single  pro- 
vince can  more  easily  prescribe  a  code  of  laws  for 
that  single  province,  than  arrange  a  system  of  gov- 
ernment that  is  alike  adapted  to  a  thousand  distinct 
and  distant  provinces.  A  system  of  instruction  and 
government  that  is  equally  adapted  to  the  whole 
family  of  man,  and  to  every  isolated  individual  of 


ITS  ADAPTATION  TO  MAN. 

that  family,  must  not  only  comprise  many  things, 
but  be  very  nicely  adjusted,  and  maintain  an  invari- 
able tendency  to  one  and  the  same  benevolent  end. 
Every  part  of  it  must  be  wisely  selected,  and  all  the 
parts,  taken  together,  must  be  wisely  suited  to  one 
another.  It  must  view  every  individual  in  connec- 
tion with  the  whole,  and  the  whole  in  its  relations 
to  every  individual.  The  Bible  is  such  a  system ; 
it  consults  all  these  relations — relations  which  no 
finite  mind  in  the  universe  could  have  anticipated 
or  discovered,  much  less  a  collection  of  minds,  of 
varied  character,  and  so  separated  by  time  and  cir- 
cumstance as  to  be  precluded  from  all  possibility  of 
collusion.  In  all  its  great  principles,  and  in  all  the 
filling  up  of  these  great  outlines ;  in  all  its  laws  and 
organization ;  in  all  its  worship  and  rites ;  in  all  its 
sanctions,  motives  and  influences,  here  is  a  system 
of  truth  and  grace  every  way  adapted  to  man's  con- 
dition and  character.  The  material  world  does  not 
present  more,  or  more  admirable  instances  of  adapta- 
tion, or  those  which  are  more  expressive  of  the  wis- 
dom of  its  Author,  than  are  here  presented  in  the 
immaterial  and  spiritual.  It  is  not  an  attempt  at  the 
restoration  of  man ;  but  to  the  full  extent  in  which 
it  is  faithfully  applied,  it  effects 'it.  It  is  not  an 
attempt  at  religion ;  it  is  a  religion,  and  the  only  re- 
ligion adapted  to  man.  It  is  not  an  attack  upon  the 
enemy,  or  a  mere  prescription  for  the  disease ;  it  is 
a  victory  over  him,  and  a  sovereign  cure.  Just  as 
light  is  adapted  to  the  eye  and  sound  to  the  ear ;  just 
as  the  solid  earth  is  adapted  to  one  class  of  animated 

10* 


226  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

existencies,  the  sea  to  another,  and  the  air  to  a  third — 
just,  in  one  word,  as  there  is  a  suitableness  in  all 
the  parts  of  nature,  in  themselves,  in  the  succession 
and  order  in  which  they  act,  and  with  a  view  to  the 
effect  finally  produced,  which  indicates  the  wisdom 
of  the  Great  Contriver,  is  the  revelation  made  in 
the  Bible  adapted  to  the  nature  and  recovery  of  fal- 
len man,  and  equally  indicative  of  the  same  uncre- 
ated wisdom. 

This  is  one  of  the  arguments  on  which  the  Bible 
itself  rests  its  own  claims  to  a  superhuman  origin. 
In  full  view  of  the  deadly  nature  and  alarming  ex- 
tent of  the  spiritual  miseries  which  are  the  inheri- 
tance of  our  race,  its  gracious  Author  proclaims  him 
self  the  Sovereign  Healer.  To  men  whom  sin  has 
made  poor,  and  naked,  and  blind,  and  miserable,  he 
says,  "  I  counsel  thee  to  buy  of  me  gold  tried  in  the 
fire,  that  thou  mayest  be  rich ;  and  white  raiment, 
that  thou  mayest  be  clothed,  and  that  the  shame  of 
thy  nakedness  do  not  appear ;  and  anoint  thine  eyes 
with  eye-salve,  that  thou  mayest  see."  To  men  who 
despise  their  own  mercies,  and  weary  themselves  in 
the  pursuit  of  that  they  will  never  find,  he  says, 
"  Wherefore  spend  ye  your  money  for  that  which  is 
not  bread,  and  your  labor  for  that  which  satisfieth 
not  ?  Hearken  diligently  unto  me,  and  eat  ye  that 
which  is  good,  and  let  your  soul  delight  itself  in  fat- 
ness." To  men  who  are  bewildered,  without  a  clue 
to  guide  them  in  the  dreary  labyrinth,  he  says,  "  I 
am  the  light  of  the  world :  he  that  followeth  after 
me  shall  not  walk  in  darkness,  but  shall  have  the 


ITS  ADAPTATION  TO  MAN. 

light  of  life."  To  men  who  thirst  for  happiness, 
and  find  nothing  to  allay  their  febrile  desires,  or 
cool  their  parched  tongues,  his  language  is.  "  If  any 
man  thirst,  let  him  come  unto  me  and  drink !" 
While  to  the  ten  thousand  wants  that  lift  up  their 
voices  and  send  their  cry  to  the  heavens,  this  Book 
responds,  "  Whosoever  shall  drink  of  the  water  that 
I  shall  give  him,  shall  never  thirst ;  but  the  water 
that  I  shall  give  him,  shall  be  in  him  a  well  of  water 
springing  up  into  everlasting  life."  Time  and  experi- 
ence have  fully  justified  these  high  claims.  The  ex- 
periment has  been  made  with  every  other  religion ; 
they  have  all  been  "  weighed  in  the  balances,  and 
found  wanting."  It  is  too  late  to  invent  another  and 
a  new  religion ;  men  are  shut  up  to  the  Gospel  of 
Christ,  as  the  light  of  the  world  and  the  life  of  men. 

Different  views  of  the  excellence  of  the  Bible, 
make  different  impressions  upon  different  minds; 
but  if  we  mistake  not,  the  argument  from  its  adapta- 
tion to  the  character  and  wants  of  men,  holds  a  high 
place  with  minds  of  every  class. 

That  martyr  to  the  missionary  cause,  the  Rev. 
John  Williams,  of  the  London  Missionary  Society, 
relates  a  circumstance  which  took  place  among  the 
natives  of  the  South  Sea  islands,  which  those  who 
have  read  the  biography  of  this  remarkable  man  will 
remember.  The  officers  of  the  British  ship  Serin  ga- 
patam,  after  intercourse  with  a  number  of  the  natives 
who  had  been  converted  to  Christianity,  expressed 
their  doubts  whether  the  views  which  these  ignorant 
people  had  uttered  on  the  subject  of  religion,  were 


228  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

their  own  views;  and  even  asserted,  that  both  the 
missionary  and  these  professed  converts  were  prac- 
tising deception  upon  their  visitors.  In  order  to 
decide  this  question,  Mr.  Williams  invited  Captain 
Waldgrave,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Watson,  the  ship's  chap- 
lain, and  other  gentlemen,  to  an  interview  with 
fifteen  of  the  natives,  for  the  purpose  of  free  conver- 
sation on  religious  subjects. 

On  their  being  assembled,  Captain  Waldgrave 
proposed  the  question  to  them,  "  Do  you  believe  the 
Bible  is  the  word  of  God,  and  that  Christianity  is 
of  divine  origin?"  The  natives  were  rather  startled 
at  the  question,  having  never  entertained  a  doubt 
upon  that  point.  At  length  one  replied,  "Most 
certainly  we  do."  "And  why  do  you  believe  it?" 
After  some  reflection,  one  of  them  said,  "  We  look 
at  the  power  with  which  it  has  been  attended  in  effect- 
ing the  entire  overthrow  of  idolatry  among  us  ;  and 
which,  we  believe,  no  human  means  could  have  in- 
duced us  to  abandon." 

The  same  question  being  proposed  to  a  second, 
he  replied,  "  /  believe  the  Scriptures  to  be  of  divine 
origin,  on  account  of  the  system  of  salvation  they 
reveal.  We  had  a  religion  before,  transmitted  to  us 
by  our  ancestors,  whom  we  considered  the  wisest  of 
men ;  but  how  dark  and  black  a  system  that  was, 
compared  with  the  bright  scheme  of  salvation  pre- 
sented in  the  Bible!  Here  we  learn  that  we  are 
sinners;  that  God  gave  his  Son  Jesus  Christ  to 
die  for  us;  and  that  through  believing,  the  sal- 
vation procured  becomes  ours.  Now,  what  but  the 


ITS  ADAPTATION  TO  MAN.  229 

wisdom  of  God  could  have  devised  such  a  system  as 
this  ?" 

The  question  being  repeated  to  an  old  and 
shrewd  pagan  priest,  then  a  devoted  Christian,  "  in- 
stead of  replying  to  it  at  once,  he  held  up  his  hands, 
and  rapidly  moved  the  joints  of  his  wrists  and  fin- 
gers ;  he  then  opened  and  shut  his  mouth ;  and 
closed  these  singular  actions  by  raising  his  leg,  and 
moving  it  in  various  directions.  Having  done  this, 
he  said,  '  See,  I  have  hinges  all  over  me ;  if  the 
thought  grows  in  my  heart  that  I  wish  to  handle 
anything,  the  hinges  in  my  hands  enable  me  to  do 
so.  If  I  want  to  utter  anything,  the  hinges  of  my 
jaws  enable  me  to  say  it ;  and  if  I  desire  to  go  any- 
where, here  are  hinges  to  my  legs,  to  enable  me  to 
walk.  Now  I  perceive  great  wisdom  in  the  adapta- 
tion of  my  body  to  the  various  wants  of  my  mind ; 
and  when  I  look  into  the  Bible,  and  see  there  the 
proofs  of  wisdom  which  correspond  exactly  with  these 
which  appear  in  my  frame,  I  conclude  that  the 
Maker  of  my  body  is  the  Author  of  that  book.' J: 

This  is  the  sum  and  substance  of  the  argument 
from  the  idea  of  adaptation.  Verily,  "  out  of  the  mouth 
of  babes  and  sucklings  thou  hast  ordained  praise, 
that  thou  mightest  still  the  enemy  and  the  avenger  /" 
Strange  that  so  many  wise  men  after  the  flesh  can- 
not discern  what  was  so  obvious  to  the  mind  of  this 
poor  heathen !  Well  is  it  written  of  the  Saviour, 
that  "  he  rejoiced  in  spirit,  and  said,  I  thank  thee,  O 
Father,  Lord  of  heaven  and  earth,  that  thou  hast  hid 
these  things  from  the  wise  and  prudent,  and  revealed 


230  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

them  unto  babes.  Even  so,  Father,  for  so  it  seemed 
good  in  thy  sight !"  This  wonderful  moral  mechan- 
ism, these  numberless  articulations  in  the  religion 
of  the  Bible,  so  exactly  fitted  to  the  numberless 
cavities  of  the  human  mind,  playing  in  them  as  a 
ball  in  a  socket,  certainly  deserve  to  be  considered 
among  the  specimens  of  ineffable  wisdom,  and  are 
not  to  be  overlooked  among  the  internal  proofs  that 
this  Book  is  not  the  work  of  creatures. 

When  Sir  Walter  Scott  returned,  a  trembling 
invalid,  from  Italy  to  die  in  his  native  land,  the  sight 
of  home  so  invigorated  his  spirits  that  some  hope 
was  cherished  that  he  might  recover.  But  he 
found  that  he  must  die.  Addressing  his  son-in-law, 
he  said,  "Bring  me  a  book."  "What  book?"  re- 
plied Lockhart.  "Can  you  ask,"  replied  the  man 
whose  works  have  charmed  the  world — "  can  you 
ask  what  book  ? — there  is  but  owe/"  Precious  Bible  ! 
There  is  nothing  it  does  not  offer,  nothing  it  does 
not  give  to  the  man  who  feels  his  wants  and  seeks 
its  bounty.  Truth  that  never  grows  old,  riches  that 
never  decay,  pleasures  that  never  cloy,  a  crown  that 
is  never  tarnished,  griefs  assuaged  and  fears  tranquil- 
lized, bright  hopes,  and  incorruptible  immortality, 
are  the  gift  of  God  to  all  the  lovers  of  the  Bible. 


CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE.  231 


CHAPTER    VIII, 

THE  DIVINE  ORIGIN  OF  THE  SCRIPTURES  ATTESTED 
BY   CHRISTIAN   EXPERIENCE. 

THERE  is  one  class  of  proofs  for  the  divine 
origin  of  the  Scriptures  which  is  of  a  peculiar  sort. 
Of  how  much  use  it  may  be  in  convincing  an  adver- 
sary, we  shall  have  something  to  say  before  we  close 
the  present  chapter :  to  the  Christian  himself  it  is  the 
best  of  all  proofs.  It  is,  by  way  of  distinction,  called 
the  inward,  or  spiritual  evidence;  that  is,  the  evi- 
dence applied  by  the  Spirit  of  God  to  the  heart  of 
the  true  believer,  and  which  results  from  his  own 
personal  experience  of  the  power  of  Christian  truth. 
Independently  of  all  the  external  and  historical  testi- 
mony, and  though  not  independent,  yet  separate 
from  all  other  internal  and  rational  evidence,  there 
is  a  self-evidencing  power  in  the  Scriptures,  which 
declares,  by  its  influence  on  the  mind  and  heart  of 
the  believer,  that  they  are  the  word  of  God. 

The  Scriptures  profess  to  accomplish,for  all  those 
who  believe  and  obey  them,  what  nothing  else 
accomplishes.  One  way  of  proving  to  ourselves 
that  this  profession  may  be  relied  on,  consists  in 
making  an  honest  and  practical  use  of  what  they 
reveal.  The  religion  they  reveal  professes  to  be  a 


232  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

remedy  for  the  inveterate  disease  of  sin  ;  to  bring  to 
the  soul  pardon,  peace,  and  progressive  holiness ;  and 
the  true  way  of  putting  the  remedy  to  the  test  is  to 
try  it.  The  language  of  the  Bible  to  men  is,  "  Try 
the  remedy  this  book  proposes  for  yourselves ;  see 
if  it  be  not  what  it  represents  itself  to  be.  Prove  it ; 
follow  its  directions.  Do  what  it  requires  you  to  do. 
If  in  its  practical  effects,  and  in  the  different  stages 
and  degrees  of  its  application,  it  accomplishes  what 
it  professes  to  accomplish,  it  will  be  found  worthy 
of  your  confidence.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  after  a 
fair  and  honest  trial,  it  does  not  accomplish  what  it 
professes,  let  it  be  pronounced  a  failure,  and  looked 
upon  as  a  trick  of  moral  jugglery  and  imposture." 
With  men  of  fair  and  ingenuous  minds,  I  see  not 
how  such  an  appeal  as  this  can  be  resisted,  or  even 
trifled  with.  It  must  be  confessed,  that  those  who 
adopt  this  method  of  ascertaining  the  divine  origin 
of  the  Scriptures,  have  some  advantage  over  those 
who  never  make  this  honest  experiment ;  while  it  is 
with  an  ill  grace  that  the  latter  refuse  to  believe 
them.  It  is  a  very  easy  way  of  settling  the  ques- 
tion ;  it  would  seem,  upon  all  the  acknowledged 
principles  of  sound  reasoning,  to  be  a  decisive  way ; 
and  it  is  open  to  all  who  have  access  to  the  Scrip- 
tures. 

Has,  then,  the  Bible  proved  itself  a  failure  ?  and 
are  there  those  who  have  fairly  and  honestly  brought 
it  to  the  test  of  experiment,  who  are  convinced  that 
it  is  not  of  God  ?  Or  has  it  proved  itself  true  to  the 
letter ;  and  are  not  all  those  who  "  have  obeyed  from 


CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE.  233 

the  heart  that  form  of  doctrine"  which  it  delivers, 
most  thoroughly  assured  that  God  is  its  Author, 
because  the  revelations  it  makes  fall  in  with  their 
own  experience  ?  This  is  the  question  we  propose 
to  discuss ;  and  it  is  simply  a  question  of  fact.  We 
have  nothing  to  do  just  now  with  the  bearing  of  this 
fact  upon  our  argument,  but  simply  with  the  fact 
itself. 

There  are  those  who  do  not  obey  the  truth 
revealed  in  the  Bible,  and  who,  for  this  reason  alone, 
have  not  this  inward  evidence  that  it  is  the  word  of 
God.  How  should  they  have  it?  And  there  are 
those  who,  while  they  are  free  to  acknowledge  their 
defects,  do  in  some  good  measure  obey  it.  They 
are  the  friends  of  truth  and  righteousness.  They 
fear  God,  and  love  his  Son.  They  respect  his  insti- 
tutions, venerate  his  law,  and  make  it  the  great 
object  of  their  lives  so  to  live  as  to  enjoy  his  appro- 
bation. They  are  men  of  prayer,  because  they  are 
sensible  of  their  dependence  on  God,  and  their  obli- 
gations to  him ;  they  are  godly  men,  and  men  who 
are  habitually  influenced  more  by  unseen  and  eter- 
nal realities,  than  by  the  things  that  are  seen  and 
temporal.  We  affirm  that  this  class  of  men  are  con- 
scious of  an  inward  and  moral  sympathy  with  the 
disclosures  made  in  the  sacred  volume,  and  that 
their  own  personal  experience  falls  in  with  these 
disclosures. 

1.  The  great  truths  of  the  Bible  are  fitted  to 
exert  an  influence  on  the  internal  emotions:  they 
are  weighty  and  important  enough  to  do  so ;  and 


234  THE  BIBLE   NOT   OF   MAN. 

they  do  actually  produce  a  response  in  the  bosom 
of  every  right-hearted  man. 

If  you  hold  up  to  him  a  different  delineation  of 
the  Divine  character  from  that  which  is  presented  in 
the  Scriptures,  his  mind  instinctively  revolts  from  it. 
His  hope,  his  refuge,  his  portion,  the  God  he  loves 
and  rejoices  in,  is  the  God  of  the  Bible.  The  most 
subtil  errorist  cannot  decoy  the  friends  of  God  by 
any  artful,  or  distorted  views  of  the  Divine  character. 
Detract  from  his  full-orbed  excellence,  or  obscure  its 
amiableness  and  glory  by  any  additions  of  man's 
devising,  and  they  instantly  take  the  alarm.  What 
the  Bible  affirms  of  God,  their  own  hearts  affirm  : 
the  moral  sympathy  is  complete.  Give  them  his 
presence  and  favor,  and  you  cannot  make  them  mis- 
erable :  deny  them  these,  and  you  cannot  make  them 
happy. 

They  have  the  same  inward  sympathy  with  the 
Scriptures  in  the  views  they  exhibit  concerning  the 
sinful  character  and  lost  condition  of  man.  Severe 
as  the  imputations  are  which  the  Bible  records 
against  men  as  sinners,  and  though  they  are  impu- 
tations which  no  man  naturally  submits  to,  and 
which,  if  untrue,  prove  this  book  to  be  a  false  accus- 
er ;  yet  do  good  men  uniformly  acquiesce  in  them, 
while  the  best  of  men  have  the  strongest  convictions 
of  their  truth.  Their  own  daily  confessions  are  the 
echo  of  these  humbling  statements ;  while  the  longer 
they  live,  the  more  do  they  discover  sources  of  wick- 
edness in  themselves,  which  lead  them  to  wonder 
how  their  own  character  could  have  been  described 


CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE.  235 

in  the  Bible  with  so  much  precision.  They  are 
surprised  to  find  how  intimate  an  acquaintance  it 
discovers  with  their  own  heart;  how  it  turns  it 
inside  out,  and  ferrets  out  its  inmost  recesses. 

The  same  inward  sympathy  is  also  felt  with  the 
representations  which  the  Bible  gives  of  the  way  of 
salvation  by  Christ.  There  is  no  truth  which  pious 
men  have  more  honestly  put  to  the  test  of  experi- 
ence than  this.  They  have  tried  other  remedies, 
and  found  no  relief  either  from  the  curse  of  the 
law,  or  the  dominion  of  sin.  They  have  been 
driven  from  every  other  refuge,  and  have  found  in 
the  Lamb  of  God  alone  the  refuge  they  were  look- 
ing for.  The  Bible  tells  them  of  One  whose  "  blood 
cleanseth  from  sin,"  and  through  whom  there  is 
"  peace  with  God ;"  and  they  have  found  it  so,  in 
the  possession  of  peace  which  is  as  a  river,  and  joys 
that  are  like  the  waves  of  the  sea.  The  view  which 
a  Christian  has  of  the  method  of  salvation  by  Christ, 
is  entirely  different  from  that  of  the  man  whose 
head  only  is  orthodox.  He  loves  it ;  he  confides  in 
it ;  it  is  a  view  which  he  takes  for  himself  and  for 
his  own  soul.  It  is  to  him  just  what  the  Bible  rep- 
resents it  to  be;  it  is  "precious;"  there  is  a  .glory, 
and  majesty,  and  beauty  in  it ;  a  fitness  and  all- 
sufficiency  in  it,  that  mark  it  as  the  salvation  he 
needs.  It  is  his  home ;  he  cannot  live  without  it. 
Take  it  from  him,  and  you  crush  his  hopes  :  you 
make  him  miserable.  Whatever  may  be  his  powers 
of  intellect,  whatever  his  situation  in  life,  the  man 
who  receives  this  redemption  and  lives  upon  it,  has 


236  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

something  within  him  that  is  the  counterpart  of  this 
blessed  Gospel. 

The  same  sympathy  is  also  experienced  with 
that  great  truth  so  much  insisted  on  in  the  Scrip- 
tures, the  regeneration  of  the  soul  by  the  Spirit  of 
God.  Good  men  have  had  a  personal  experience  of 
the  necessity  of  this  change ;  and  they  are  not  un- 
frequently  as  conscidus  of  the  change  itself,  as  they 
were  of  those  sinful  principles  and  affections  which 
existed  within  them  before  the  change  took  place. 
They  have  affections  and  principles  of  conduct  to 
which  they  were  once  strangers,  and  which  are 
altogether  unlike  those  which  belong  to  a  mere 
speculative  view  of  this  truth.  Men  who  have  had 
the  Gospel  preached  to  them  for  years,  and  who,  as 
a  matter  of  mere  rational  inquiry,  understood  this 
truth  none  the  better  for  having  heard  it  so  often, 
have  now  clear  views  of  it,  and  views  as  different 
from  what  they  once  had  as  light  is  from  darkness. 

If  from  the  regenerating,  we  advert  to  the  sanc- 
tifying work  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  and  the  meliora- 
ting, subduing  influence  of  that  spiritual  religion  of 
which  the  Scriptures  speak,  we  find  them  equally 
responded  to  by  a  still,  small  voice  within  the  soul. 
Every  gracious  affection  renewed  and  invigorated 
is  an  expression  of  this  sympathy ;  every  breath  of 
prayer  is  a  recognition  of  it.  The  bright  and  bright- 
ening constellation  of  graces  that  lights  up,  with  its 
rare  lustre,  the  otherwise  dark  pathway  from  time  to 
eternity,  is  but  the  reflection  of  those  great  truths 
of  the  Bible  which  shine  as  a  light  in  a  dark  place. 


CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE.  237 

The  Christian  will  tell  you  just  what  the  Bible  tells 
you  of  the  nature  of  true  piety,  and  the  power  of 
that  grace  by  which  it  is  produced  and  sustained  ; 
and  by  which,  in  defiance  of  inward  obstacles  and 
outward  foes,  it  is  perpetuated,  and  matured  for 
heaven.  There  is  that  within  him  that  corresponds 
to  the  teachings  of  the  Bible  without  him.  The 
evidence  of  this  correspondence  is  his  own  con- 
sciousness, which  is  the  best  and  the  strongest  evi- 
dence. It  is  the  testimony  of  the  work  of  the  Spirit 
within  the  soul,  uniting  with  his  recorded  testimony 
in  the  Scriptures.  It  is  the  same  law  written  on  the 
fleshly  tables  of  the  heart,  that  is  written  with  pen 
and  ink  on  the  sacred  pages.  It  is  the  testimony 
of  that  same  conviction,  conversion,  and  sanctifica- 
tion ;  of  that  same  change  from  darkness  to  light, 
and  all  those  gracious  affections,  desires,  hopes  and 
consolations  which  are  spoken  of  in  the  Bible,  them- 
selves speaking  the  work  of  their  Author. 

2.  The  Bible  is  a  book  of  promises,  "  exceeding 
great  and  precious  promises."  Promises  bloom  upon 
this  Tree  of  Life  like  the  blossoms  of  spring  ;  nor  do 
they  deceive  us  when  autumn  comes,  and  the  fruit 
is  gathered.  They  are  promises  which  respect  the 
life  that  now  is,  and  that  which  is  to  come.  They 
speak  of  "  blessings  upon  the  head  of  the  just,"  and 
of  "all  that  their  heavenly  Father  knoweth  that 
they  need."  They  are  promises  of  safety  "under 
the  shadow  of  the  Almighty,"  and  of  deliverance  out 
of  their  "many  afflictions."  They  speak  of  "their 
mourning  turned  into  joy;"  of  "light  arising  to 


238  THE   BIBLE   NOT   OF  MAN. 

them  in  the  darkness;"  and  of  their  "consolations 
abounding  by  Christ,"  as  the  "  sufferings  of  Christ 
abound  in  them."  They  are  promises  to  the  young, 
to  the  middle  aged,  and  to  the  "  hoary  head  when 
found  in  the  way  of  righteousness."  They  are 
assurances  that  God  is  "  the  Father  of  the  father- 
less," and  the  widow's  guardian  and  avenger  "  in  his 
holy  habitation."  To  the  tempted  they  are  prom- 
ises of  succor ;  of  wisdom  to  the  unwise  ;  of  strength 
to  the  weak  ;  and  to  the  fearful,  of  courage  and  con- 
fidence. They  speak  of  pardon  and  justification,  of 
adoption  and  sanctification,  of  free  access  to  God, 
of  "  grace  to  help  in  the  time  of  need,"  of  strength 
according  to  their  day,  and  of  perseverance  to  the 
end.  They  are  promises  of  victory  over  the  world, 
of  the  Divine  presence  and  love,  of  God's  indwell- 
ing Spirit,  and  of  delight  and  joy  in  him.  There 
are  promises  to  faith,  to  repentance,  to  obedience, 
and  to  the  sacred  observance  of  the  Lord's  day. 
There  are  promises  to  the  liberal  and  the  merciful, 
to  the  meek  and  the  forgiving,  and  to  those  who 
suffer  for  righteousness'  sake.  The  Bible  is  in  no 
small  degree  made  up  of  such  gracious  engagements  ; 
it  is  God's  covenant  with  his  people,  to  which  he 
has  affixed  his  seal  and  annexed  his  oath.  His 
strong  and  triumphant  demand  in  relation  to  these 
engagements  is,  "  Hath  he  said,  and  shall  he  not  do 
it  ?  or  hath  he  spoken,  and  shall  he  not  make  it 
good?" 

Promises  like  these  throw  themselves  upon  every 
day's  experience  and  observation.     They  are  easily 


CHRISTIAN   EXPERIENCE.  239 

brought  to  the  test ;  and  when  thus  brought,  what 
is  the  testimony  as  to  their  fulfilment  ?  Let  the 
Christian  world  furnish  the  answer  to  this  inquiry. 
Let  the  infidel  world  furnish  the  examples  of  failure, 
if  it  can.  Steady  and  uniform  as  the  perpetual 
and  regular  return  of  seed-time  and  harvest,  cold  and 
heat,  summer  and  winter,  day  and  nightj  and  bright 
and  sure  as  God's  bow  in  the  clouds,  is  the  expe- 
rience of  God's  people  to  the  truth  of  his  promises. 
God  himself  more  than  once  appeals  to  it  as  the 
standing  token  of  his  covenant  with  them,  and  says 
to  them,  "  Ye  know  in  all  your  hearts  and  all  your 
souls,  that  not  one  thing  hath  failed  of  all  the  good 
things  which  the  Lord  your  God  spake  concerning 
you."  With  facts  like  these  before  him,  who  can 
doubt  that  God  is  the  Author  of  the  Bible  ?  Is  not 
the  life  of  the  Christian  an  "  on-going  proof  that 
Scripture  is  truth  ?" 

3.  There  is  another  peculiarity  in  the  instruc- 
tions of  the  Bible,  which  is  also  easily  brought  to 
the  test  of  experience.  I  allude  to  its  instructions 
on  the  subject  of  prayer.  It  abounds  in  inculcating 
the  duty  of  jprayer  ;  it  speaks  largely  of  the  power  of 
prayer ;  while  page  after  page  is  devoted  to  recount- 
ing the  achievements  of  prayer.  It  teaches  that 
God  is  the  "  hearer  of  prayer  ;"  and  that  "  the  effec- 
tual, fervent  prayer  of  the  righteous  man  availeth 
much."  We  affirm  that  the  experience  of  the  men 
of  prayer  is  in  remarkable  coincidence  with  the  spirit 
and  import  of  these  instructions,  and  furnishes  per- 
petually accumulative  evidence  of  the  truth  of  the 


240  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

Sacred  Writings.  Every  Christian  knows  that  the 
God  of  the  Bible  is  the  hearer  of  prayer.  His  own 
history  records  many  a  want  supplied  by  prayer; 
many  a  vile  affection  held  in  check  and  subdued  by 
prayer ;  many  an  unforgiving  thought  suppressed, 
and  many  a  tempest  of  passion  passed  away  amid 
the  calm  and  unobserved  retirement  of  his  closet. 
He  can  tell  of  many  a  languishing  grace  revived, 
many  a  depressed  hope  encouraged,  many  a  doubt- 
ful and  arduous  enterprise  crowned  with  success  by 
help  received  at  the  throne  of  the  heavenly  grace. 
He  can  tell  of  darkness  dissipated  by  prayer;  of 
rough  places  made  plain,  and  the  crooked  straight, 
by  prayer ;  of  dangers  averted,  fears  vanquished,  and 
enemies  overcome  ;  perplexity  removed,  and  duties 
for  which  he  was  incompetent  performed,  through 
prayer.  In  the  time  of  trouble,  prayer  has  been  his 
refuge;  and  in  the  hottest  furnace  of  affliction  he 
has  been  enabled  to  say,  "  Blessed  be  God,  even  the 
Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  the  God  of  all 
comfort,  who  comforteth  us  in  all  our  tribulation!" 
How  often  have  public  calamities  been  averted,  or 
deferred,  or  mitigated  by  prayer ;  and  where  has  the 
Spirit  of  God  descended,  and  "  souls  been  renewed, 
and  sins  forgiven,"  save  through  the  power  of 
prayer  ? 

Of  no  fact  in  the  history  of  the  church  does  the 
experience  of  good  men  furnish  more  abundant  tes- 
timony, than  of  the  efficacy  of  that  spirit  of  holy 
wrestling  which  finds  its  expression  and  its  conquests 
at  the  throne  of  grace.  The  convictions  of  pious 


CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE.  241 

men  are  very  strong  in  this  respect,  and  marvellously 
uniform.  So  strong  are  they,  that  it  is  no  exagger- 
ation to  say,  that  they  appreciate  no  blessings  so 
highly  as  those  procured  by  prayer ;  nor  is  there  any 
earthly  privilege  or  comfort  of  which  they  would 
not  sooner  be  denied,  than  access  to  the  mercy-seat. 
Now  it  strikes  us  that  this  is  a  very  remarkable, 
and  indeed  an  unaccountable  fact,  unless  the  instruc- 
tions of  the  Bible  on  the  subject  of  prayer  are  truth- 
ful. It  is  far  otherwise  in  false  religions.  Men  who 
offer  their  supplications  to  the  Virgin  Mary,  or  to 
departed  saints,  have  no  such  experience  as  this.  The 
worshippers  of  pagan  gods  pray  to  idols  which  their 
own  hands  have  formed,  but  receive  no  answer. 
The  moon  is  cold  and  deaf,  and  turns  not  from  her 
steady  course  when  oblation  after  oblation  is  poured 
out  on  the  altar  of  this  "  queen  of  heaven."  And 
the  sun  is  listless,  when  sacrifice  upon  sacrifice  sends 
upward  its  costly  fragrance,  to  immingle  with  his 
rising,  or  setting  beams.  Like  the  prophets  of  Baal, 
when  from  morning  to  evening  they  cried  to  their 
absent,  or  sleeping  deity,  all  such  worshippers  "  find 
neither  voice,  nor  any  to  answer,  nor  any  to  regard 
them."  We  make  our  appeal  to  unbelievers  them- 
selves, and  ask  them  to  tell  us  from  their  own  obser- 
vation, if  when,  as  Christian  men,  we  "lift  up  our 
heart  to  God  who  dwelleth  in  the  heavens,"  we 
have  no  greater  evidence  that  he  is  the  hearer  of 
prayer  than  the  pagan  has  when  he  prays  to  the 
"  host  of  heaven,"  or  the  Musselman  when  he  pays 
his  devotions  at  the  shrine  of  the  false  prophet  ? 

Bible  not  of  Man. 


242  THE   BIBLE   NOT   OF   MAN. 

"  Where  are  thy  gods  now  ?  let  them  arise  and  save 
thee,  if  they  can  save  thee !"  The  best  affections 
of  the  Christian  heart  start  into  being,  and  thrill 
with  delight  at  the  mercy-seat.  The  experience  of 
the  men  of  prayer  speaks  the  language  of  the  Bible  ; 
there  is  no  truth  uttered  by  the  divine  oracles  on 
the  whole  subject  of  prayer,  diversified  as  these 
teachings  are,  but  is,  with  wonderful  precision,  veri- 
fied in  their  own  spiritual  history. 

4.  We  pursue  this  induction  of  facts  only  a 
single  step  farther.  The  Scriptures  profess  to 
strengthen  the  people  of  God  on  the  bed  of  lan- 
guishing, and  to  give  them  peace  and  consolation  in 
death.  These  are  strong  and  high  professions.  We 
read  in  the  Bible  of  the  "  rod  and  staff"  that  com- 
fort the  believer  when  he  walks  through  the  dark 
valley  ;  of  One  who,  when  "  flesh  and  heart  fail," 
is  the  "strength  of  his  heart  and  his  portion  for- 
ever;" and  of  peace,  and  hope,  and  triumph  over 
the  "last  enemy."  Whence  come  these  high  pro- 
fessions ?  Who  is  it,  that  professes  thus  to  cheer 
the  mind  weighed  down  by  the  ravages  of  disease, 
desolated  of  all  hope  from  creatures,  and  shrinking 
with  instinctive  dread  from  the  agonies  of  death 
and  the  corruption  of  the  grave  ?  Who  is  it,  in 
that  sad  hour  when  all  human  vigor  and  courage 
are  broken  and  shivered ;  when  all  sublunary  joys 
retire,  and  the  tenderest  ties  that  bind  man  to  man 
are  about  to  be  broken,  and  the  agitated  spirit  must 
go  alone  to  her  last  account,  that  thus  professes  to 
soothe  its  fears  and  give  it  hope  and  confidence  ? 


CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE.  243 

The  Bible  does  this,  and  Christian  experience  teaches 
the  same  unutterably  precious  lesson,  and  is  itself 
the  edifying  spectacle  of  grace  thus  pledged  to  take 
away  the  sting  of  death,  and  from  the  grave  its 
victory. 

If  this  be  not  the  uniform  lesson,  yet  is  it  the 
lesson  of  Christian  experience  :  "  The  wicked  is  driven 
away  in  his  wickedness,  but  the  righteous  hath  hope 
in  his  death."  I  cannot  tell  how  it  is  with  other 
ministers  of  the  Gospel,  and  with  other  men :  for 
myself  I  can  say,  for  almost  forty  years  I  have  been 
familiar  with  scenes  of  sickness  and  death — among 
the  rich  and  the  poor — amid  the  ordinary  visitations 
of  disease,  and  amid  the  raging  pestilence;  and  I 
cannot  recall  to  my  mind  a  single  instance  in  which 
I  have  seen  a  wicked  man  die  in  peace.  I  have  seen 
wicked  men  die  courageously,  and  as  though  every 
nerve  were  wrought  up  to  its  highest  tension  in 
order  to  meet  the  conflict ;  but  I  have  never  seen  one 
go  out  of  the  world  peacefully.  I  have  seen  them 
submit  to  their  fate,  because  their  hour  had  come, 
and  they  could  not  help  it.  I  have  seen  them  die 
in  stupid  and  brutish  ignorance  of  their  own  character 
as  sinners,  and  of  a  coming  hereafter,  just  as  many  a 
pagan  dies ;  but  it  was  not  a  peaceful  death.  I  have 
seen  them  die  under  the  influence  of  powerful  nar- 
cotics, and  when  they  did  not  know  they  were  dying, 
and  when  medical  attendants  announced  that  their 
death  was  tranquil  and  without  a  struggle.  I  have 
seen  them  die  in  that  state  of  indifference  to  life 
which  is  produced  by  the  languor  of  disease,  the 


244  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

sorrow  of  hopeless  disappointment,  and  the  agony 
of  pain.  I  have  seen  them  die  in  the  insensibility 
of  age,  in  unbelief  of  the  truth,  in  hardness  of 
heart,  and  when  "  there  were  no  bands  in  their 
death."  And  who  has  not  known  of  multitudes 
who  were  even  so  willing  to  die,  that  they  "  chose 
strangling,  and  death  rather  than  life?"  But  scenes 
like  these  no  more  resemble  the  triumphant,  or  even 
the  peaceful  death  of  a  Christian,  than  the  death  of 
Nero  resembled  the  death  of  Moses,  or  of  Paul. 

It  is  not  by  inspecting  such  scenes  as  these, 
that  this  Question  can  be  brought  to  a  practical  test. 
Place  yourself  by  the  bedside  of  a  dying  man, 
whose  mind  is  clear,  whose  conscience  is  awake, 
and  who  has  strong  perceptions  of  his  own  guilt  and 
an  approaching  eternity ;  and  it  will  be  found  that 
such  a  man  dies  in  peace,  and  only  he,  who  has 
found  peace  in  that  Saviour  "  whom  God  hath  set 
forth  to  be  a  propitiation  through  faith  in  his  blood." 
If  it  be  said  that  Christians  themselves  do  not  always 
die  triumphantly,  or  even  peacefully,  we  grant  that 
it  is  so.  A  good  man  may  die  suddenly,  and  have 
no  time  for  thought ;  he  may  die  in  a  state  of  intel- 
lectual debility,  or  derangement,  which  incapacitates 
him  even  for  hope :  he  may  die  when  his  loins  are 
not  girt  about  him,  and  his  lamp  is  not  trimmed  and 
burning,  and  therefore  he  may  die  under  the  hidings 
of  God's  countenance,  and  pass  away  under  the 
cloud ;  while  in  fact,  his  death  never  partakes  of  the 
agony  and  remorse  of  the  wicked,  and  in  the  ordi- 
nary dispensations  of  Divine  Providence,  is  full  of 


CHRISTIAN   EXPERIENCE.  245 

peace  and  joy.  And  it  deserves  consideration,  that 
his  death  is  the  more  full  of  joy  and  peace  in  believ- 
ing, in  proportion  to  the  clearness  and  strength  of 
his  views  of  those  truths  and  realities,  which,  the 
more  clearly  they  are  seen  and  felt,  the  more  certainly 
do  they  carry  consternation  and  dismay  to  the  dying 
sinner.  No  sense  of  the  dying  Christian's  ill  desert 
diminishes  his  confidence  in  atoning  blood  and 
abounding  grace ;  no  strong  conceptions  of  a  holy 
God  disturb  his  tranquillity,  but  rather  do  they  fill 
him  with  rejoicing  ;  no  receding  world,  no  approach- 
ing eternity  agitates  him,  because  this  world  is  not 
his  rest,  and  his  home  is  eternity. 

Time  would  fail  me  to  tell  how  Christians  die ; 
nor  can  anything  save  the  pen  of  the  recording 
angel,  who  has  stood  by  their  bed  of  death  and  borne 
them  to  Abraham's  bosom,  narrate  the  unnumbered 
instances  of  their  delightful  departure  from  the  pres- 
ent world,  which  verify  the  truth  of  the  Bible.  "  I 
could  never  have  believed,"  said  a  dying  saint,  "  that 
it  was  so  delightful  a  thing  to  die ;  or  that  it  was 
'possible  to  have  such  views  of  the  heavenly  world 
as  I  now  enjoy."  The  memorable  Melancthon,  just 
before  he  died,  chanted  in  his  sleep  the  words,  "  I 
will  not  any  more  eat  thereof,  until  it  be  fulfilled  in 
the  kingdom  of  God."  He  seemed  restless,  and  on 
being  asked  by  one  near  him,  "  Whether  there  were 
anything  more  that  he  desired  ?"  replied,  "  Aliud 
nihil,  nisi  codum — nothing  more,  unless  it  be  heav- 
en." The  most  forbidding  aspect  now  and  then 
presented  by  the  Christian's  death,  is  that  of  rigid 


246  THE   BIBLE   NOT  OF   MAN. 

scrutiny  into  the  foundation  of  his  hopes,  or  pensive 
and  submissive  tenderness,  that  he  is  denied  those 
bright  lights  which  he  fondly  hoped  to  enjoy.  As 
a  general  fact,  "  the  chamber  where  the  good  man 
meets  his  fate "  unfolds  the  scenes  of  heavenly 
mercy;  it  presents  the  theory  of  Christian  truth, 
in  the  experience  of  a  mind  that  knows  how  to 
value  it.  And  therefore  it  may  be  experience  that 
varies  from  a  hesitating,  to  a  vigorous  faith ;  from  a 
mournful  remembrance  of  the  past,  to  an  exulting 
anticipation  of  the  future  ;  from  the  tranquillity  of  a 
peaceful,  to  the  bursting  joys  of  a  rapturous  mind : 
yet  is  it  true  to  God,  and  true  to  his  word. 

Infidels  themselves  see  and  feel  the  weight  of 
such  facts  as  these ;  and  not  a  few  of  them  have 
been  constrained  to  adopt  the  language,  "Let  me 
die  the  death  of  the  righteous,  and  let  my  last  end 
be  like  his!"  A  writer  in  the  Scottish  Mirror 
affirms  of  David  Hume,  that,  having  witnessed  in 
the  family  of  the  venerable  La  Roche  those  con- 
solations which  the  Gospel  alone  could  impart,  he 
confessed,  with  a  sigh,  "that  there  were  moments 
when,  amidst  all  the  pleasures  of  philosophical  dis- 
covery, and  the  pride  of  literary  fame,  ihe  wished 
that  he  had  never  doubted.'1 " 

We  will  not  say,  such  are  the  facts  on  which  we 
rest  our  statement ;  for  they  are  but  a  partial  exem- 
plification of  the  facts  on  which  we  rest  the  propo- 
sition, that  there  is  a  self -evidencing  power  in  the 
Scriptures  to  every  man  who  cordially  receives  them,, 
which  declares,  by  its  influence  on  his  own  soul,  that 


CHRISTIAN   EXPERIENCE.  247 

they  are  the  word  of  God.  We  proceed  to  suggest 
several  considerations,  with  the  view  of  showing 
the  importance  of  the  facts  we  have  stated,  and 
the  influence  they  claim  in  the  argument  in  favor 
of  Divine  inspiration.  Here  we  beg  the  objector 
to  give  all  the  force  they  deserve  to  the  following 
remarks. 

1.  In  the  first  place,  the  positive  conviction  arising 
from  the  Christian's  experience  of  the  truth  of  the 
divine  oracles,  cannot  be  philosophically  overthrown 
by  the  mere  negative  conviction  of  the  Deist  who  has 
no  such  experience.  A  million  of  negatives  cannot 
overturn  one  positive.  It  is  no  proof  that  you  do 
not  see  the  light  of  the  sun,  that  men  who  are  born 
blind  never  saw  it.  It  is  no  proof  that  the  Chris- 
tian's experience  does  not  verify  the  truths  of  rev- 
elation, that  the  experience  of  men  who  are  not 
Christians  never  verifies  it.  If  the  believer  "  has  the 
witness  in  himself,"  it  does  not  falsify  his  testimony 
that  the  unbeliever  has  no  such  witness.  The  testi- 
mony of  the  unbeliever  is  not  opposing  testimony  ; 
it  is  simply  no  testimony  at  all.  It  would  be  worso 
than  childish  for  a  jury  to  pronounce  a  man  innocent 
of  the  crime  for  which  he  stands  arraigned,  because 
ten  men  declare  under  oath  that  they  did  not  see 
him  commit  it,  so  long  as  five  credible  witnesses 
affirm  that  they  did  see  him.  Nor  is  this  a  stronger 
case  than  the  one  under  consideration.  The  testi- 
mony of  one  creditable  witness  to  a  fact  which  he 
himself  has  observed,  would  overturn  the  negatives 
of  half  the  world.  Negation,  in  the  law  of  evidence, 


248  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

is  nothing ;  it  is  simply  opposing  nothing  to  some- 
thing. An  experienced  Christian,  weak  though  he 
may  be  in  all  other  sources  of  proof,  is  immoveable 
in  this.  He  is  more  than  a  match  for  the  subtil 
sceptic.  The  sceptic  has  doubts,  the  Christian  has 
knowledge  ;  the  sceptic  has  theory,  the  Christian  has 
matter  of  fact. 

2.  It  is  of  some  importance  also  to  remark,  in 
the  second  place,  that  this  inward  testimony  to  the 
truth  of  the  Bible  is  founded  on  good  and  solid 
reasons. 

The  Deist  replies  to  the  Christian,  who  reasons 
as  we  have  been  reasoning,  All  this  is  a  matter  of 
mere  feeling  ;  it  is  simply  your  own  impression ;  it 
cannot  be  argued  out,  but  is  a  fancy  of  your  own ! 
No,  it  is  not  so :  it  is  argument ;  it  is  a  just  and 
irrefragable  conclusion  from  premises  that  are  true. 
Those  premises  are,  that  there  is  no  effect  without 
an  adequate  cause ;  the  conclusion  is,  that  the  effect 
produced  by  the  Bible  on  the  mind  and  heart  of  the 
Christian,  is  one  whose  cause  is  God.  They  are 
effects  which  nothing  else  can  produce.  Everything 
else  has  been  tried — tried  in  every  form,  in  every 
age,  and  by  all  the  combinations  of  human  power 
and  human  wisdom — and  has  proved  a  failure.  If 
the  Bible  does  not  produce  them,  it  is  false  to  its 
own  engagements;  if  it  does  produce  them,  it  is 
true.  This  is  one  of  the  points  on  which  it  has 
committed  itself.  Its  language  is,  "  Search  the 
Scriptures,  for  in  them  ye  think  ye  have  eternal  life, 
and  they  are  they  which  testify  of  me."  "  Taste 


CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE.  249 

and  see  that  the  Lord  is  good."  "  If  any  man  will 
do  his  will,  he  shall  know  of  the  doctrine  whether  it 
be  of  God."  No  system  of  falsehood  would  ever 
have  ventured  to  make  such  appeals  as  these.  It  is 
the  easiest  thing  in  the  world  for  infidels  to  put  the 
claims  of  the  Bible  to  this  test :  they  have  but  to  do 
as  it  requires  them  to  do,  and  the  issue  is  perfectly 
decisive.  It  so  happens  that  every  man  who  does 
this,  all  the  world  over,  finds  out,  that  "  the  anoint- 
ing which  abideth  in  him  is  truth,  and  no  lie." 
"  Come  see  a  man,"  says  the  woman  of  Samaria, 
"  that  told  me  all  things  that  ever  I  did :  is  not  this 
the  Christ  ?"  The  same  strong  conviction  was  pro- 
duced on  the  minds  of  her  countrymen,  and  from  the 
same  cause.  "  Many  believed  on  him  because  of  his 
own  word;  and  said  unto  the  woman,  Now  we  be- 
lieve, not  because  of  thy  saying,  but  because  we 
have  heard  him  ourselves ;  and  we  know  that  this  is 
the  Christ,  the  Saviour  of  the  world."  This  was 
the  method  which  the  first  disciples  and  apostles  of 
Jesus  pursued  in  order  to  bring  to  the  test  his  extra- 
ordinary claims.  Those  whom  his  personal  charac- 
ter seemed  to  convince,  and  whom  his  instructions 
did  not  convince,  did  not  long  continue  to  follow 
him.  Those  who  were  convinced,  even  by  his  mir- 
acles, and  were  not  obedient  to  his  doctrines,  but 
offended  by  them,  "  went  back,  and  walked  no  more 
with  him ;"  while  those  who  obeyed  his  voice,  for- 
sook all,  and  followed  him ;  and  when  others  went 
away,  exclaimed,  "Lord,  to  whom  shall -we  go? 
thou  hast  the  words  of  eternal  life ;  and  we  believe, 

Bible  not  of  Man.  # 


250  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

and  are  sure  that  thou  art  that  Christ,  the  Son  of  the 
living  God!" 

The  Christian's  experience  of  the  truth  of  the 
Divine  promises  and  the  power  of  prayer,  is  of  the 
same  convincing  kind.  If  the  Bible  is  false  in  these 
particulars,  it  is  no  difficult  matter  to  detect  the 
falsehood.  Prayer  cannot  be  answered,  nor  these 
promises  fulfilled,  except  by  God.  He  who  is  the 
hearer  of  prayer,  and  who  fulfils  the  promises,  must 
be  concerned  in  the  government  of  the  world,  as  no 
other  being  is  concerned  save  Him  who  made  it.  If 
he  thus  hears  the  prayers  of  his  people,  and  accom- 
plishes these  promises,  every  answered  prayer  and 
accomplished  promise  furnishes  evidence  of  the  di- 
vine origin  of  the  Scriptures.  They  ask,  and  receive  : 
what  is  this  but  a  witness  that  this  Book  is  divine  ? 
They  obey  a  direction  of  the  Bible,  and  find  the 
accompanying  promise  fulfilled ;  and  what  is  this 
but  proof  that  the  direction  and  the  promise  are  from 
God  ?  If  promises  and  directions  like  these  were 
false,  they  would  carry  with  them  their  own  con- 
demnation ;  the  whole  course  of  Divine  Providence 
would  testify  against  them,  and  give  them  the  lie. 
No  impostor  would  thus  jeopard  his  veracity ;  nor 
would  such  pretensions  ever  have  occurred  to  the 
mind  of  an  impostor.  If  the  Bible  is  the  word  of 
God,  it  may  well  thus  commit  itself,  because  its  Au- 
thor is  both  able  and  willing  to  redeem  the  pledge. 
His  honor  is  concerned  in  making  it  good;  while 
the  experience  of  its  fulfilment  testifies,  that  the 
Book  which  reveals  it  is  not  the  work  of  man.  The 


CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE.  251 

argument  from  Christian  experience,  therefore,  is 
not  a  mere  impression  of  imagination,  or  overween- 
ing enthusiasm ;  it  is  sober,  convincing  argument. 
Christian  men  are  living  witnesses  for  God's  truth  ; 
they  know  that  the  Bible  is  not  of  earthly  origin  ; 
they  have  no  more  doubt  of  it  than  they  have  that 
the  sun  shines  in  the  heavens.  It  is  impossible  for 
the  subtleties,  or  the  clamors  of  false  philosophy,  to 
dimmish  the  strength  of  this  inward  conviction. 
The  most  unlettered  Christian,  shut  out  from  the 
world,  and  in  the  remote  recesses  of  the  wilderness, 
has  evidence  of  the  truth  of  the  Bible,  within  his 
own  soul,  which  all  the  sophistry  in  the  world  cannot 
invalidate. 

3.  There  is  a  third  remark,  which  presents  this 
internal  and  spiritual  evidence  still  more  clearly  in 
the  light  of  rational  conviction.  It  relates  to  the 
nature  of  the  evidence  which  gives  rise  to  all  those 
convictions  of  the  human  mind  which  flow  from 
experience  and  consciousness.  It  is  the  perfection  of 
reasoning  when  the  mind,  by  due  process  of  argu- 
ment, cannot  help  coming  to  the  conclusion  to 
which  the  argument  would  conduct  it.  By  the  uni- 
versal consent  of  mankind,  there  are  intuitive  and 
instinctive  principles  of  belief  that  are  not  the  result 
of  any  process  of  induction,  because  they  are  self- 
evident  ;  they  are  too  plain  to  be  established  by  any 
such  process ;  nor  is  there  anything  more  evident 
than  they  themselves  are,  by  which  such  process 
may  be  conducted.  The  most  conclusive  argument 
does  nothing  more  than  unite  propositions  which  are 


252  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

of  questionable  verity  with  those  which  are  unques- 
tioned, and  thus  establish  the  unknown  by  logically 
identifying  it  with  the  known.  But  let  it  not  be 
forgotten,  that  the  nature  of  evidence  is  adapted  to 
its  subject.  There  is  a  difference  between  reasoning 
and  consciousness ;  nor  is  there  any  need  of  reason- 
ing, where  we  have  the  evidence  of  consciousness. 
There  is  a  difference  between  demonstration  and 
inspection;  for  inspection  supersedes  the  necessity 
of  demonstration.  There  is  a  difference  too  between 
coming  to  a  logical  conclusion,  and  making  a  prac- 
tical experiment.  You  may  demonstrate  the  chem- 
ical properties  of  an  acid,  or  an  alkali,  and  thus 
come  to  a  scientific  and  just  conclusion  of  their 
nature ;  and  you  may  taste  them,  and  with  equal 
certainty  ascertain  their  properties  by  experience. 
There  is  likewise  the  evidence  of  sense,  as  well  as 
the  evidence  of  reason.  When  you  see  the  light  of 
the  sun,  you  do  not  need  any  other  proof  that  it  is 
light ;  when  you  hear  sound,  you  do  not  need  any 
other  proof  that  it  is  sound.  These  subjects  do  not 
admit  of  any  other  evidence  than  the  evidence  of 
the  senses.  When  you  touch  a  pillar  of  marble, 
you  know  that  it  is  cold  and  hard,  because  it  feels 
so  ;  and  this  is  all  the  evidence  you  ask  for.  The 
nature  of  evidence  is  adapted  to  its  subject. 

This  remark,  and  these  illustrations  of  it,  present 
the  thought  I  wish  to  convey  in  relation  to  those 
convictions  of  the  mind  which  flow  from  experience 
and  consciousness.  The  mind  of  man  has  its  senses 
as  well  as  his  body.  It  has  a  sense  of  beauty  and 


CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE.  253 

deformity,  of  right  and  wrong.  Particular  classes 
of  men  have  a  quicker  and  more  keen  apprehension 
and  sense  of  some  subjects,  than  other  classes.  A 
poet  has  a  keen  and  intuitive  discernment  of  the 
beauties  of  poetry ;  a  musician,  of  the  harmony  of 
sounds ;  an  artist,  of  the  beauties  of  painting  j  an 
architect,  of  the  beautiful  proportions  of  an  edi- 
fice. No  man  judges  of  subjects  of  this  sort  by 
those  laws  of  reasoning  by  which  his  conclusions 
are  formed  of  the  agreement  of  different  parts  of  a 
mathematical  theorem,  or  logical  syllogism ;  because 
there  are  other  laws  of  his  nature  besides  his  reason- 
ing faculties,  which  are  necessarily  consulted. 

Now  Christianity  addresses  itself,  not  to  the  intel- 
lect and  reason  of  men  merely,  but  to  their  moral 
nature — to  their  heart  and  conscience — to  what  may 
properly  be  called  their  spiritual  senses.  The  man 
who  has  experienced  its  power,  possesses  this  inward 
sense  of  its  truth  and  reality.  When  the  light  of 
truth  shines  upon  his  mind,  he  knows  it  to  be  truth 
because  he  sees  it.  When  the  voice  of  God,  his 
Maker,  falls  upon  his  ear,  he  asks  for  no  other  evi- 
dence that  it  is  God's  voice,  than  that  he  hears  it. 
It  is  a  well-known  voice ;  there  is  no  other  voice 
like  it,  or  to  whose  accents  his  mind  so  vibrates, 
and  which  produces  the  same  inward  emotions.  It 
is  the  voice  of  the  Good  Shepherd,  leading  his  flock 
in  green  pastures,  and  by  the  still  waters.  "  My 
sheep,"  says  he,  "  know  my  voice,  and  follow  me  ;  a 
stranger  they  will  not  follow,  for  they  know  not  the 
voice  of  strangers."  Good  men  love  God,  and  love 


254  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

his  truth.  They  read  the  Scriptures  with  a  different 
state  of  mind  from  that  with  which  they  are  read  by 
others.  They  possess  a  "  spiritual  discernment  of 
spiritual  things  " — a  peculiar  tact  in  judging  of  their 
excellence  and  beauty.  They  judge  by  the  heart, 
as  well  as  by  the  understanding  ;  and  though  in 
other  respects  they  may  be  ignorant  men,  it  is  per- 
fectly rational  that  they  should  believe  them  to  be 
the  word  of  God,  if  for  no  other  evidence,  than  that 
the  truths  they  reveal  have  their  counterpart  in  their 
own  experience.  The  man  who  has  tasted  honey, 
as  certainly  knows  it  is  sweet,  as  the  chemist  who 
has  tested  its  properties  by  scientific  analysis.  Plain 
and  unsophisticated  men  believe  vastly  more  truths 
on  the  evidence  of  their  own  experience,  than  they 
believe  by  the  more  tedious  process  of  reason- 
ing. It  is  by  the  same  sure  process  of  experiment 
that  they  believe  the  truths  of  Christianity.  They 
have  tried  it  ;  they  have  found  that  it  accomplishes 
all  that  it  professes  to  accomplish.  The  time  was 
when  they  saw  it  in  a  different  light,  because  they 
inspected  it  with  a  different  state  of  mind.  Since 
the  love  of  God  has  controlled  their  inquiries,  they 
have  a  key,  by  which  this  cabinet  of  truth  may  be 
unlocked,  and  its  treasures  explored.  "  He  that 
loveth  not,"  says  the  apostle,  "  knoweth  not  God, 
for  God  is  love."  The  conclusion  is  a  most  logical 
one.  How  should  a  man  have  any  just  conceptions 
of  a  Being  whose  nature  is  love,  when  himself 
knows  nothing  about  love  ?  No  more  than  a  purely 
malignant  man  knows  what  kindness  is,  or  a  purely 


CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE.  £55 

revengeful  man  knows  what  a  forgiving  spirit  is,  or 
a  blind  man  knows  what  color  is,  can  a  man  who 
loves  not,  know  what  God  is.  Our  perception  of 
the  moral  character  of  our  fellow  men  arises  from 
sympathy ;  it  is  when  heart  meets  heart,  and  love 
responds  to  love,  that  we  see  into  one  another's 
bosom.  We  know  what  men  are,  because  we  our- 
selves feel,  or  have  felt  like  them.  Not  until  the 
heart  of  man  corresponds  to  the  heart  of  God,  is  God 
known.  Christianity  therefore  speaks  for  itself,  and 
carries  its  own  evidence  within  it,  wherever  its 
power  is  felt. 

Nor  is  there  any  mysticism  in  this :  it  involves  a 
principle  of  every  day's  concernment.  The  Deist 
replies,  "  This  may  be  evidence  that  satisfies  the  man 
who  feels  it,  but  it  is  no  argument  with  one  who 
does  not  feel  it ;  I  have  read  the  Bible,  and  find  no 
such  effects  from  it;  to  my  mind  it  is  a  book  of 
absurdities !"  Let  us  test  this  objection,  and  see 
where  it  will  end.  Set,  the  Deist  to  reason  with  an 
Atheist.  The  Atheist  may  ask  him,  "  Why  do  you 
believe  there  is  a  God?"  The  Deist  replies,  "I  see 
such  evidences  of  design ;  such  beauty,  grandeur, 
order,  and  harmony  throughout  the  creation,  that  to 
my  mind  it  is  impossible  that  it  should  not  have  been 
the  product  of  a  designing  Cause."  The  argument 
is  good ;  but  it  rests  on  the  Deist's  perception  of 
design,  order,  and  harmony.  What  if  the  Atheist 
replies,  "Your  impressions  of  design  and  harmony 
are  all  superstition ;  I  have  never  seen  any  such 
indications  in  the  created  universe:  the  evidence 


256  THE  BIBLE  i\uT  OF  MAN. 

may  do  well  .enough  for  the  man  who  feels  it,  but 
to  my  mind  it  is  no  evidence  at  all !"  Here,  then, 
the  Deist  is  in  a  dilemma;  he  must  give  up  his 
objection  to  the  reasoning  of  the  believer  in  Chris- 
tianity, which  is  founded  on  his  perceptions  of  its 
excellence,  or  he  must  yield  to  the  reasoning  of  the 
Atheist,  against  his  own  perceptions  of  the  order  and 
harmony  in  the  works  of  creation.  He  must,  upon 
his  own  principles,  either  become  an  Atheist  or  a 
Christian.  We  are  bold,  therefore,  to  affirm,  that 
the  spiritual  perception  by  which  every  good  man 
judges  of  the  divine  origin  of  the  Scriptures,  is  as 
infallible  as  the  perceptions  of  the  Deist  of  the  excel- 
lence of  the  religion  of  nature ;  as  infallible  as  the 
perceptions  of  the  poet,  or  the  artist,  of  the  excel- 
lence of  painting  or  poetry ;  as  infallible  as  the  cor- 
poreal senses  themselves,  though  acting  in  different 
spheres,  and  conversant  with  different  objects.  There 
is  no  stronger  evidence ;  it  is  the  evidence  of  con- 
sciousness. Let  men  read  and  obey  the  Bible,  and 
they  will  know  that  it  is  from  God.  The  more  experi- 
mentally and  practically  they  become  acquainted 
with  it,  and  the  more  they  are  imbued  with  its 
spirit,  the  more  competent  are  they  to  decide  on 
the  question  of  its  divine  origin  from  their  own 
experience,  and  the  more  certainly  will  they  decide 
according  to  truth. 

4.  There  is  a  fourth  remark,  which  gives  still  addi- 
tional force  to  this  argument.  This  testimony  from 
experience  is  fortified  by  a  great  number  of  witnesses, 
and  of  great  variety  of  external  condition  and  nat- 


CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE.  257 

ural  character.  Suppose  a  man  of  matured  intelli- 
gence and  unimpeachable  veracity  were  travelling 
alone  on  an  unfrequented  path,  and  saw  some  unu- 
sual phenomenon  in  the  heavens,  which  he  could 
not  account  for,  and  which  he  himself  could  scarcely 
be  persuaded  was  a  reality.  The  more  he  inspects 
it,  however,  the  more  is  he  convinced  that  it  is  no 
delusion,  and  that  his  senses  have  not  deceived  him. 
Now  it  would  not  be  surprising,  if,  in  giving  a  nar- 
rative of  what  he  had  seen,  even  those  who  had  the 
strongest  confidence  in  his  veracity  should  entertain 
doubts  of  his  statement ;  nor  would  it  be  unnatural 
for  them  to  conclude,  that  he  had  been  deceived  by 
some  optical  illusion,  or  his  own  imagination.  But  if 
twenty,  or  fifty  other  persons,  with  whom  he  had  had 
no  communication,  should  testify  that  they  had  wit- 
nessed the  same  phenomenon  from  other  and  differ- 
ent points  of  observation,  there  would  certainly  be 
more  reason  to  conclude  that  his  narrative  is  worthy 
of  being  believed.  But  suppose  that  thousands  in 
different  parts  of  the  land,  and  millions  in  different 
portions  of  the  earth,  should  testify  that  they  had 
simultaneously  seen  the  same  phenomenon,  and  that 
their  descriptions  of  it  should  all  agree  ;  suppose  that 
among  these  millions  there  are  persons  of  both  sexes, 
of  all  ages,  of  all  natural  temperaments,  of  all  classes 
of  society,  and  of  all  degrees  of  intellectual  cultiva- 
tion ;  it  most  certainly  would  be  in  accordance  with 
all  the  laws  of  evidence,  and  a  perfectly  rational 
thing,  to  conclude  that  his  narrative  is  true.  Yet 
is  this  but  a  faint  illustration  of  the  remark,  that  the 


258  THE   BIBLE   NOT   OF   MAN. 

testimony  for  the  divine  origin  of  the  Scriptures 
from  experience,  is  fortified  by  a  great  number  of 
witnesses,  of  great  variety  of  external  condition  and 
natural  character. 

All  Christians  have  this  internal  and  spiritual 
evidence.  All  testify  to  the  reality  of  the  change, 
wrought,  through  the  instrumentality  of  the  Bible, 
upon  their  own  hearts ;  the  effect  produced  by  it  on 
their  own  minds  and  character  is  different  from  that 
produced  by  any  other  book  in  the  world ;  nor  is  it 
possible  for  any  other  to  produce  the  same  moral 
transformation.  It  has  disclosed  to  them  the  inmost 
recesses  of  their  own  bosoms,  which  nothing -else 
could  do.  When  polluted,  it  has  made  them  holy  ; 
when  anxious  and  troubled,  it  has  given  them  peace  j 
when  miserable,  it  has  made  them  happy.  It  has 
given  the  most  accurate  and  vivid  representation  of 
their  sorrows  and  their  joys,  their  burdens  and  their 
relief,  their  temptations  and  their  succors,  their 
doubts  and  their  confidence,  their  fears  and  their 
hopes,  their  unfaithfulness  and  their  relentings, 
their  conflicts  and  their  triumphs ;  which  no  book 
could  give  unless  its  Author  knew  Avhat  was  in  man, 
and  is  able  to  write  out  their  own  inward  history. 

It  adds  too  not  a  little  to  the  force  of  their  tes- 
timony, that  this  experience  is  felt  in  all  ages  of  the 
world,  from  righteous  Abel  down  to  the  present 
hour.  It  is  found  in  all  climates,  and  under  all 
forms  of  government.  It  is  the  same  in  the  cottages 
of  Greenland,  and  in  the  valleys  of  the  Yaudois ;  in 
polished  Europe,  and  in  the  savage  wilderness ;  on 


CHRISTIAN   EXPERIENCE.  259 

the  continents,  and  in  the  islands.  Oceans  may  sep- 
arate them ;  natural  causes,  of  every  variety,  may 
exert  their  appropriate  influence  upon  their  charac- 
ter ;  but  everywhere  the  same  experience,  resulting 
from  the  same  cause,  and  producing  the  same  con- 
viction that  that  cause  is  God,  pervades  them  all. 
No  matter  what  their  sex,  or  condition — whether 
they  be  children,  or  men  of  gray  hairs ;  whether 
they  be  Cromwell  and  the  Lady  Jane  Grey  on  their 
thrones,  or  Boaz  and  Ruth  in  the  harvest  field; 
whether  they  be  Zuingle  on  the  battle  ground,  or 
Howard  in  his  counting-room,  or  John  Newton  pray- 
ing at  the  mast-head : — everywhere,  and  in  all, 
thought  corresponds  to  thought,  and  emotion  to 
emotion.  The  same  high-born  and  impelling  force 
sends  the  same  life-blood  through  every  artery  and 
vein  of  the  spiritual  body.  And  to  give  greater  force 
stiil  to  their  testimony,  it  is  given  with  the  same 
uniformity  and  explicitness  by  all  classes  of  minds 
and  temperaments.  The  gifted,  as  well  as  those  of 
ordinary  endowments ;  the  sanguine  and  the  phleg- 
matic ;  the  cautious  and  reserved ;  the  rash  and 
communicative  ;  the  poet  and  the  historian ;  the 
sensitive  artist,  and  the  cool  philosopher — all  have 
the  same  spiritual  sympathies,  and  speak  the  same 
spiritual  language. 

There  are  but  two  ways  in  which  this  testimony 
can  be  repelled :  the  one  is,  by  supposing  the  wit- 
nesses to  be  deceivers  ;  the  other,  by  supposing  them 
to  be  deceived.  That  they  are  all  deceivers,  will 
hardly  be  urged  by  the  grossest  infidel.  They  are 


260  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

{ 

those  in  whom  infidels  themselves  have  confidence, 
and  who,  in  all  matters  of  secular  trust,  are  confess- 
edly good  men  and  true.  That  they  are  deceived, 
is  scarcely  possible.  It  might  be  possible  with  one, 
with  ten,  with  fifty ;  but  can  it  be  possible  with 
thousands,  with  millions — unknown  to  each  other, 
and  between  whom  there  is  no  intercourse,  no  con- 
nivance, no  concert ;  and  whose  sympathies  are  com- 
mon only  where  they  are  derived  from  the  Bible  as  a 
common  source  ?  This  is  the  magnet,  which  attracts 
all  hearts  with  which  it  comes  in  contact — the 
spiritual  magnet,  which,  as  from  a  common  centre, 
sends  out  its  ten  thousand  electric  wires,  and  by  its 
telegraphic  power  holds  communication  with  the 
most  distant  minds,  simultaneously  answering  to  the 
testimony  first  announced  in  heaven. 

Let  it  not  therefore  be  wondered  at,  that  Chris- 
tian men  place  strong  dependence  upon  this  spiritual 
and  internal  evidence. 

"  A  Christian  dwells,  like  Uriel,  in  the  sun ; 
Meridian  evidence  puts  doubt  to  flight, 
And  ardent  hope  anticipates  the  skies." 

It  is  no  preponderance  of  probabilities  on  which 
such  a  man  rests  his  assurance  of  the  divine  origin 
of  the  Bible.  It  is  not  possible  to  persuade  him  to 
renounce  it  for  any  false  religion,  however  plausible 
and  captivating  it  may  be,  and  however  artful  its 
seductions. 

This  is  emphatically  the  poor  man's  argument 


CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE.  261 

for  the  divine  origin  of  the  Sacred  Writings.  He 
may  have  no  other  evidence  within  his  reach,  but 
this  satisfies  him.  Of  the  witness  of  antiquity,  of  logic, 
and  history,  and  the  fulfilment  of  prophecy,  he  may 
know  nothing ;  but  this  one  thing  he  knows,  that 
the  Bible  is  to  his  own  soul  the  wisdom  of  God  and 
the  power  of  God  unto  salvation.  He  has  found  it 
what  it  professes  to  be :  this  is  his  argument.  He 
feels  that  it  was  written  on  purpose  for  him :  this  is 
his  argument.  It  speaks  to  him  as  no  other  book 
speaks  :  this  is  his  argument.  Man  could  not  speak 
thus :  this  is  his  argument.  "  It  were  like  telling 
him,  that  a  creature  spread  out  the  firmament  and 
inlaid  it  with  worlds,  to  tell  him  that  this  proffered 
salvation  is  the  device  of  impostors,  or  the  figment 
of  enthusiasts.  He  that  believeth,  hath  the  testi- 
mony written  in  his  own  bosom,  not  by  those  sen- 
sible exhibitions  of  Divine  power  by  which  the  laws 
of  nature  are  arrested,  but  by  power  equally  great 
and  wondrous,  the  omnipotent  power  of  the  Spirit 
of  God.  Others  may  admire  the  shield  which  the 
industry  and  the  ingenuity  of  learned  men  have 
thrown  over  Christianity ;  they  may  speak  of  the 
solid  rampart  cast  up  by  the  labors  of  ages,  and 
pronounce  the  faith  inaccessible,  because  history, 
philosophy  and  science,  have  all  combined  to  gird 
round  it  the  iron  and  the  rock  of  a  ponderous  and 
colossal  demonstration."  But  the  fact  most  to  be 
gloried  in  is,  "  that  the  Scripture  commends  itself  to 
the  conscience,  and  experience  bears  out  the  Bible — 
that  the  Gospel  can  go  the  round  of  the  world,  and 


262  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

carry  with  it,  in  all  its  travel,  its  own  mighty  ere 
dentials." 

If  the  infidel  does  not  confide  in  representations 
like  these,  if  he  does  not  give  the  argument  any 
credence,  it  is  matter  of  grief  to  us,  but  we  cannot 
help  it.  There  is  no  alternative  for  him  between  a 
true  faith  in  Christianity,  and  living  and  dying  with- 
out God,  and  without  hope ;  between  cleaving  to 
God's  testimonies,  and  absolute  despair ;  between 
glorying  in  them,  and  being  overwhelmed  with 
shame  and  everlasting  contempt. 

"  Ah  me !  the  laurell'd  wreath  that  murder  wears, 
Blood  nurs'd,  and  watered  by  the  widow's  tears, 
Seems  not  so  foul,  so  tainted,  or  so  dread, 
As  waves  the  night-shade  round  the  sceptic's  head." 

"For  judgment  am  I  come  into  this  world,"  says 
the  great  Author  of  the  Bible,  "  that  they  which 
see  not,  might  see ;  and  that  they  which  see,  might 
be  made  blind."  Men  who  know  too  much  to  be 
taught  of  God,  must  be  left  to  their  own  blinding 
delusions. 

From  my  heart  do  I  pity  the  man,  who  shuts  the 
eyes  of  his  understanding  against  the  intrinsic  evi- 
dence which  this  Book  possesses  of  its  heavenly  ori- 
gin. Would  he  allow  it  to  speak  its  own  facts  and 
its  own  doctrines,  without  mutilation  and  in  all  their 
richness ;  would  he  allow  it  to  utter  its  own  prom- 
.ises  and  its  own  threatenings,  its  own  love  and 
mercy,  its  own  heaven  and  its  own  hell ;  he  would 
find  that  it  is  no  more  the  work  of  man  than  the  snn 


CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE.  263 

in  the  heavens — no  more  a  system  of  deception  than 
the  sun  itself  is  a  globe  of  ice. 

We  part  with  the  infidel,  but  we  do  not  willingly 
part  with  him ;  nor  do  we  leave  him  in  the  spirit  of 
unkindness.  There  are  truths  of  the  Bible  known 
to  himself,  and  demonstrated  by  his  own  experience. 
We  affectionately  and  earnestly  invite  him  to  a  field 
of  thought,  which  his  own  heart  has  not  yet  ex- 
plored. We  bid  him  rove  over  it  from  flower  to 
flower,  and  from  its  vernal  promise  to  its  rich  har- 
vest ;  pledging  him,  that  if  he  does  so  he  shall  not 
lose  his  reward.  Let  him  prove  the  Bible  by  giving 
all  its  truths  the  trial  of  experience.  Let  him  taste 
the  honey,  as  well  as  the  gall :  they  are  sweet  foun- 
tains, pure  fountains,  clear  as  crystal,  from  the  throne 
of  God  and  the  Lamb. 


264  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 


CHAPTER   IX, 


THE   BIBLE   ACCORDANT  WITH  HUMAN   REASON. 

CHRISTIANITY  would  fain  make  converts  of  all 
classes  of  men.  It  would  win  and  gain  over  the 
high  and  the  low,  the  rich  as  well  as  the  poor,  the 
enlightened  and  thinking  part  of  mankind,  as  well  as 
the  more  uninformed.  Men  there  are  who  regard 
it  as  making  demands  upon  their  credulity,  which 
they  feel  themselves  called  on  to  resist.  They  look 
upon  it  as  so  repugnant  to  the  first  principles  of  rea- 
soning and  the  ordinary  laws  of  credibility,  that,  in- 
stead of  commending  itself  to  human  reason,  it  is  an 
outrage  upon  common  sense.  We  have  no  hope  of 
rendering  it  acceptable  to  the  hearts  of  such  men  ; 
while  we  may  hope  to  rescue  it  from  the  charge  of 
this  monstrous  absurdity.  We  are  anxious  to  do  so 
for  the  interests  of  truth,  and  because  truth  is  the 
appointed  means  of  salvation. 

It  requires  but  little  acquaintance  with  the  world 
to  perceive,  that  one  of  the  causes  which  contributes 
to  confirm  a  certain  class  of  men  in  the.ir  disbelief, 
is  the  impression  that  the  claims  of  Christianity  can- 
not be  vindicated  by  human  reason ;  and  that,  in 
order  to  receive  it,  they  must  forego  all  the  authority 
of  dispassionate  and  fair  argument.  The  object  of 


ACCORDANT  WITH  REASON.  265 

the  present  chapter  is  to  throw  out  several  sugges- 
tions, with  the  view  ot'  obviating  this  difficulty,  and, 
so  far  as  we  are  able,  setting  the  claims  of  the 
Christian  religion,  in  this  particular,  somewhat  in 
their  true  light.  We  have  a  strong  conviction,  that 
this  religion  is  distinguished  from  all  false  relig- 
ions by  its  perfect  agreement  with  reason.  While 
all  other  systems  of  religion  are  deficient,  or  absurd 
and  contradictory,  this  alone  will  bear  examination  ; 
the  more  severe  the  examination,  the  better  does  it 
stand  the  test.  It  is  a  perfectly  rational  thing.  It 
makes  no  demands  upon  a  senseless  credulity,  nor 
in  approaching  it  are  men  solicited  to  leave  their 
own  minds  behind  them,  or  throw  away  their  reason- 
ing faculties. 

By  reason,  I  understand  that  faculty  of  the  mind 
by  which  it  distinguishes  truth  from  falsehood,  and 
enables  us  to  deduce  truths  that  are  unknown  from 
those  that  are  known.  It  is  a  faculty  which  exists 
in  different  power  in  different  minds.  There  is  a 
Mind  in  the  universe  which  perceives  all  truth  in- 
tuitively; there  are  other  minds  which  arrive  at  it 
by  a  slow  and  more  laborious  process.  The  act  of 
reasoning  consists  in  judging  of  the  truth  of  proposi- 
tions brought  before  the  mind,  and  inferring  conclu- 
sions which  are  so  just  and  natural,  and  which  so 
necessarily  result  from  the  propositions  thus  pre- 
sented, that  they  are  intuitively  perceived.  In  in- 
vestigating the  question,  for  example,  whether  the 
Scriptures  are  of  divine  origin,  we  go  back  to  these 
first  and  universal  truths  which  thus  lie  at  the  fpun- 

Bible  not  of  Mao.  1  O 


266  THE   BIBLE   NOT   OF  MAN. 

dation  of  all  reasoning ;  which  are  sustained  by  an 
appeal  to  every  man's  consciousness,  and  which  are 
believed  because  it  is  impossible  not  to  believe  them. 
If  the  Bible  is  true,  the  truth  of  it  must  rest  on  this 
solid  foundation.  On  no  subject  whatever  are  reason 
and  argument  more  fitly  employed,  therefore,  than 
in  investigating  this  momentous  question.  If  its 
divine  authority  cannot  be  substantiated  by  fair  rea- 
son and  argument,  or  if  reason  and  argument  can 
overthrow  it,  it  is  no  longer  worthy  of  confidence. 

But  it  may  not  be  forgotten,  that,  in  order  to 
reason  justly  oh  religious  subjects,  men  must  have 
the  opportunity  and  the  means  of  reasoning.  The 
truth  of  this  remark  neither  requires,  nor  needs  evi- 
dence in  proof  of  it.  Be  it  political,  or  legal  science  ; 
be  it  in  the  physical,  or  the  more  exact  sciences ;  in 
order  to  reason  successfully,  or  even  safely,  men 
must  not  only  possess  the  faculty  and  power  of 
reason,  but  the  opportunity  and  means  of  reasoning. 
These  consist  in  a  greater  or  less  degree  of  knowl- 
edge and  information  on  the  subjects  about  which 
they  reason.  A  lucid  argument  on  the  subject  of 
civil  government  requires  some  degree  of  acquaint- 
ance with  the  science  of  civil  government ;  a  con- 
vincing argument  on  the  law  of  bailments,  or  insur- 
ance, requires  legal  attainments ;  the  solution  of  a 
difficult  problem  in  geometry  requires  no  inconsider- 
able advancement  in  mathematical  learning.  So  it 
is  with  regard  to  questions  of  a  religious  kind.  As 
men  cannot  reason  safely  on  any  other  subject  with- 
out some  degree  of  information  on  the  subject  about 


ACCORDANT  WITH  REASON.       267 

which  they  reason,  it  is  indispensable  they  should 
have  some  degree  of  religious  information  before 
they  can  reason  on  the  subject  of  religion.  Reason 
is  fitted  to  the  perception  of  truth,  and  must  therefore 
have  the  opportunity  and  means  of  perceiving  it. 
Whatever  is  true,  sooner  or  later  falls  in  with  the 
conclusions  of  reason.  One  mind  may  discover  it 
later,  and  by  a  more  tedious  process,  than  another ; 
but  when  perceived,  it  is  equally  believed  by  both. 
Truth  does  not  depend  on  our  perceiving  it ;  nor 
is  it  less  true  when  perceived  by  other  minds, 
though  unperceived  by  our  own.  A  religious  truth 
that  is  worked  out  by  the  tardy  process  of  human 
reasoning,  is  not  the  less  true  because  it  is  intuitively 
discovered  by  a  mind  that  is  more  exalted  ;  nor  is  it 
less  true,  though  we  receive  it  on  the  testimony  of 
his  perceptions.  Nor,  when  it  is  reached  by  the 
process  of  reasoning,  is  it  less  true  because  it  is  first 
perceived  by  those  who  have  superior  knowledge 
and  superior  means  of  reasoning  ;  for  when  we  our- 
selves come  to  possess  the  same  knowledge  and  the 
same  means,  we  shall  perceive  it  as  well  as  they. 
The  more  our  sources  of  religious  knowledge  are 
increased,  and  the  greater  the  variety  of  religious 
truths  with  which  our  minds  are  furnished,  the  bet- 
ter are  we  fitted  to  reason  on  the  subject ;  and  if  we 
follow  the  sound  and  true  dictates  of  reason,  the 
more  confidently  may  we  rely  on  our  conclusions. 

There  are  several  sources  of  information,  and 
means  and  opportunities  of  reasoning,  on  religious 
subjects.  One  of  these  is  the  Book  of  Nature. 


268  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

"  The  heavens  declare  the  glory  of  God,  and  the 
firmament  sheAveth  his  handy  work."  "Ask  now 
the  beasts,  and  they  shall  teach  thee  ;  and  the  fowls 
of  heaven,  and  they  shall  tell  thee.  Or  speak  to  the 
earth,  and  it  shall  teach  thee ;  and  the  fishes  of  the 
sea  shall  declare  unto  thee.  Who  knoweth  not  in 
all  these,  that  the  hand  of  the  Lord  hath  wrought 
this  ?"  One  of  them  is  the  Book  of  Providence, 
Avhere,  from  facts  in  the  history  of  the  world,  as  well 
as  events  which  take  place  under  our  own  observa- 
tion, important  lessons  are  learned  concerning  God 
as  the  great  Governor,  and  men  as  his  responsible 
subjects.  These  instructions  are  valuable  in  propor- 
tion to  their  plainness  and  extent.  They  are  so, 
because  they  utter  the  voice  of  God;  they  are  a 
revelation  of  his  will;  they  constitute  some  of  the 
forms  in  which  he  himself  addresses  truth  to  the 
minds  of  his  creatures.  Nor  is  there  anything  that  is 
unreasonable  in  such  a  revelation  as  this.  It  is  rea- 
sonable to  suppose  that  the  creation  should  speak  for 
its  Creator,  and  that  the  government  which  he  is 
exercising  over  his  creatures,  by  his  providence, 
should  speak  to  them  in  language  of  no  equivocal 
import.  I  have  yet  to  learn  that  any  class  of  infidels 
have  called  in  question  the  reasonableness  of  such  a 
revelation. 

But  what  if,  in  addition  to  such  a  revelation,  it 
has  pleased  God  to  make  a  more  full  disclosure  of 
his  mind  and  will  ?  Is  there  anything  unreasonable 
in  this  hypothesis  ?  The  Bible  professes  to  be  such 
a  revelation  :  is  there  anything  unreasonable  in  what 


ACCORDANT  WITH  REASON.  2(,9 

it  reveals  ?     Let  us  direct  our  thoughts  a  few  mo- 
ments to  these  two  inquiries. 

Is  it  unreasonable  that  such  a  revelation  should 
be  made,  in  addition  to  the  disclosures  of  nature  and 
providence  ?  It  is  the  province  of  reason,  not  to 
originate  truth,  but  to  discover  it.  Can  it  discover, 
from  these  sources  alone,  all  that  is  necessary  for 
men  to  know  ?  Can  it  discover  it  with  that  cer- 
tainty that  satisfies  the  philosophic,  or  to  that  extent 
which  satisfies  the  popular  mind?  Socrates  and 
Seneca  did  not  think  so — the  civil  and  popular  the- 
ology of  the  pagan  world  bears  uniform  testimony 
that  "the  world  by  wisdom  knew  not  God."  To 
the  great  purpose  of  man's  existence  as  a  moral  and 
immortal  being,  the  works  and  providence  of  God 
have  spoken  in  vain.  So  far  as  they  regard  the 
Divine  counsels  respecting  our  fallen  race,  they  have 
spoken  in  vain.  If  it  were  reasonable  that  He  who 
is  the  light  of  the  universe  should  not  leave  this 
lower  world  in  darkness  that  may  be  felt ;  if  it  were 
reasonable  that  the  Father  of  mercies  and  the  God 
of  the  spirits  of  all  flesh  should  stretch  forth  his  hand 
to  rescue  his  falling  children  from  the  bottomless 
abyss ;  it  is  reasonable  to  look  for  a  more  abundant 
and  hopeful  revelation  than  is  contained  in  his  works 
of  creation  and  providence.  "  Let  reason  count  the 
stars,  weigh  the  mountains,  fathom  the  depths — the 
employment  becomes  her,  and  the  success  is  glori- 
ous. But  when  the  question  is,  '  How  shall  man  be 
just  with  God?'  reason  must  be  silent,  revelation 
must  speak." 


270  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF   MAN. 

If,  then,  there  is  nothing  unreasonable  in  the 
hypothesis  that  God  should  give  men  a  more  full 
revelation,  is  there  anything  unreasonable  in  the 
revelation  itself,  which  professes  to  have  God  for  its 
Author  1  In  replying  to  this  inquiry,  several  dis- 
tinct thoughts  deserve  consideration. 

All  will  agree,  that  a  religion  that  has  God  for 
its  Author,  cannot  be  unreasonable.  Whether  we 
can  discover  it  to  be  so,  or  not,  it  must  be  a  reason- 
able religion.  Better  were  it  to  impeach  our  own 
reason,  than  his.  Nor  is  this  altogether  a  "  begging 
the  question,"  or  "reasoning  in  a  circle."  To 
exalt  reason  above  its  own  place,  is  to  debase  it :  to 
set  the  human  in  rivalry  with  the  Divine,  is  to  make 
it  contemptible.  The  Bible  claims  to  be  a  reason- 
able religion  ;  to  require  a  "  reasonable  service  ;"  to 
reveal  "  the  words  of  truth  and  soberness."  Reason 
in  creatures  is  essentially  the  same  with  reason  in 
the  Deity ;  save  that,  while  their  conclusions  are 
arrived  at,  for  the  most  part  with  difficulty,  his  are 
intuitively  made ;  and  while  with  them  reason  is 
finite,  and  liable  to  err,  in  the  Divine  mind  it  is 
unerring  and  infinite.  The  most  reasonable  Being 
in  the  universe  cannot  be  the  author  of  an  unreason- 
able revelation.  The  God  of  heaven  does  not  need 
to  be  instructed,  and  dictated  to  by  human  reason : 
human  reason  needs  to  be  tutored  and  schooled  by 
Divine  wisdom.  Whether  the  system  of  truth  and 
piety  revealed  in  the  Scriptures,  does  or  does  not, 
in  our  judgment,  coincide  with  sound  reason,  we 
have  the  highest  evidence  the  nature  of  the  case 


ACCORDANT  WITH  REASON.  271 

admits,  that  it  does  so  in  fact.  This,  however,  is 
not  the  ground  on  which  we  rest  the  reasonableness 
of  the  religion  revealed  in  the  Scriptures.  The 
question,  whether  this  religion  is  or  is  not  intrinsi- 
cally contrary  to  reason,  is  not  out  of  place. 

I  remark  therefore,  further,  It  is  no  objection  to 
the  reasonableness  of  this  religion,  that  it  contains 
truths  which  human  reason  itself  could  never  have 
discovered.  There  are  those  who  hold  that  nothing 
is  reasonable,  save  that  which  human  reason  origi- 
nally discovers.  But  is  it  so,  that  there  is  nothing 
known  to  the  minds  of  angels,  or  to  the  mind  of 
the  Infinite  Deity,  that  is  unknown  to  men?  If 
human  reason  could  have  devised  the  system  of 
truth  and  grace  found  in  the  Bible,  there  had  been 
no  need  of  a  supernatural  revelation.  It  is  not 
denied  that  truths  are  here  revealed  that  could  never 
have  been  known  but  for  Divine  teaching.  The 
utmost  powers  of  the  human  mind  fail  in  the  effort 
to  discover  them ;  nor,  untaught  of  God,  could  they 
ever  have  proved  them  to  be  true.  Unaided  reason 
had  not  the  remotest  suggestion,  or  hint  of  some  of 
them,  until  they  were  disclosed  by  light  from  heaven. 
Imagination  herself  did  not  venture  a  faint  fore- 
shadowing of  them.  Human  reason  had  no  creed, 
no  fixed  opinions,  in  relation  to  problems  which  the 
Bible  solves  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  merest  tyro 
in  the  school  of  Christ.  The  solution  of  them  had 
not  its  antetype  in  the  human  mind :  it  was  no- 
where, save  in  the  mind  of  the  Deity,  and  in  the 
deep  counsels  of  the  eternity  where  he  dwells. 


272  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

We  say  to  those  persons  who  have  persuaded 
themselves  that  human  reason  could  have  accom- 
plished ah1  that  was  necessary  for  man's  salvation, 
that  the  moral  history  of  our  world,  nay,  the  history 
of  the  universe  shows,  that  when  once  any  race  of 
creatures  have  fallen  from  their  primeval  integrity,- 
it  is  beyond  the  limits  of  reason,  whether  in  the 
human  or  the  angelic  mind,  to  devise  a  method  by 
which  they  may  be  restored  to  the  Divine  favor. 
The  angelic  race  who  fell,  with  all  their  lofty  powers 
of  intellect,  have  not,  during  the  progress  of  tedious 
centuries  of  suffering,  discovered  any  way  of  escape. 
It  is  perfectly  obvious  that,  on  the  apostacy  of  our 
first  parents,  all  expectation  of  recovery  from  the 
efforts  of  their  own  reason  was  a  forlorn  hope.  Nor 
has  it  been  in  the  power  of  their  descendants,  dur- 
ing the  progress  of  six  thousand  years,  in  any  part 
of  the  world,  to  ascertain  from  the  lights  of  reason 
and  nature,  whether  God  will  forgive  sin.  Human 
reason  has  had  full  and  unobstructed  opportunity  to 
make  the  discovery — among  all  nations  and  every 
clime,  in  ages  of  ignorance  and  barbarism,  and  in 
ages  of  great  intellectual  cultivation  and  vigor ;  and 
the  result  shows,  that  the  most  acute  philosopher, 
and  the  degraded  child  of  the  forest,  are  alike  igno- 
rant of  those  truths  which  bring  relief  to  the  solic- 
itude and  despondency  of  man  when  contemplating 
his  character  as  a  sinner.  The  various  religions  of 
man's  devising  are  everywhere  the  religions  of  pen- 
alty, of  fear :  the  basis  of  them  all  is  a  deep  and 
inwrought  impression  of  the  awful  majesty  of  God 


ACCORDANT  WITH  REASON.        273 

as  the  Avenger.  It  is  perfectly  accordant  with  the 
dictates  of  reason,  therefore,  that  a  revelation  that 
meets  the  wants  of  man  should  itself  be,  not  the 
creature  of  reason,  but  of  God. 

As  a  consequence  of  this  position,  it  is  altogether 
reasonable,  that  a  religion,  revealed  from  heaven, 
should  contain  truths  that  are  above  and  beyond  the 
power  of  human  reason  to  comprehend.  Infidels  and 
rationalists  object  to  the  Bible,  and  affirm  that  it  is 
contrary  to  reason,  because  it  contains  mysterious 
truths.  But  why  should  it  be  thought  unreason- 
able, that  a  system  of  truth,  which  is  confessedly 
beyond  the  power  of  man's  devising,  should  contain 
truths  which  convict  human  reason  of  imbecility? 
What  is  there  irrational  and  illogical  in  the  position, 
that  the  wisdom  of  man  is  confounded  and  baffled 
before  "  the  deep  things  of  God  ?"  We  affirm,  that 
it  is  most  reasonable  to  believe  that  a  revelation  from 
God  contains  some  such  mysterious  features.  It  is 
for  such  truths  among  others,  if  not  for  such  truths 
mainly,  that  such  a  revelation  is  needed.  Now  that 
it  reveals  them,  so  far  from  being  any  objection 
to  the  divine  origin  of  the  revelation,  they  remain 
among  the  evidences  of  its  divine  origin.  They  con- 
stitute one  of  the  proofs  that  such  a  revelation  is 
consistent  with  the  highest  reason.  They  are  truths 
that  are  unwelcome  to  the  proud  and  selfish  heart  of 
man  ;  truths  which  show  that  human  reason,  with  all 
its  self-confidence,  has  its  boundaries ;  and  at  the  same 
time  truths  which  reason,  unless  strangely  recreant 
to  her  own  prerogative,  is  constrained  to  honor. 

Bible  not  of  Man.  12* 


274  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

There  are  truths  above  the  discovery  of  human 
reason,  and  which,  when  revealed,  reason  compre- 
hends ;  and  there  are  also  those  which,  when  re- 
vealed, are  above  its  comprehension.  There  are 
more  of  the  former  than  the  latter ;  while  the  latter 
are,  if  possible,  of  greater  importance,  because  they 
are  so  intimately  connected  with  the  most  important 
practical  truths  of  Christianity.  The  doctrine  of  the 
Trinity,  and  of  the  Incarnation,  are  mysterious  and 
incomprehensible  truths.  They  are  revealed  as  mys- 
teries ;  they  are  facts,  the  existence  of  which  is  af- 
firmed by  the  testimony  of  Him  who  cannot  lie,  and 
believed  on  that  testimony.  But  there  is  nothing 
contradictory  in  the  statements  we  find  of  them  in 
the  Bible ;  there  is  nothing  in  these  statements  that 
contradicts  any  other  truth  which  the  Scriptures 
reveal ;  nor  has  it  ever  been  shown,  nor  can  it  be, 
that  they  are  inconsistent  with  reason.  Though 
man's  reason  does  not  comprehend  them,  the  rea- 
son of  the  Great  God  comprehends  them ;  and  for 
all  that  we  know,  in  a  future  and  more  advanced 
state  of  being,  they  may  be  comprehended  by  crea- 
tures. In  a  revelation  from  the  incomprehensible 
God,  it  is  not  unreasonable  to  look  for  some  incom- 
prehensible truths.  His  nature  leads  us  to  look  for 
them  ;  his  works  lead  us  to  look  for  them  ;  his  pro- 
vidence leads  us  to  look  for  them :  it  was  to  be  ex- 
pected that  the  Bible  would  contain  them.  "  Who 
by  searching  can  find  out  God  ?  who  can  find  out 
the  Almighty  to  perfection  ?"  It  were  a  fault,  rather 
than  an  excellence  in  the  Scriptures — it  were  in  ill 


ACCORDANT  WITH  REASON.        275 

keeping  with  the  revelations  God  has  made  of  him- 
self elsewhere,  did  they  contain  no  mysteries.  Did 
they  not  contain  them,  infidels  themselves  would 
have  laid  hold  of  this  fact  as  proof  of  imposture.  It 
is  no  impeachment  of  the  Divine  wisdom,  or  good- 
ness, that  the  Bible  contains  them  ;  nor  are  they  the 
less  reasonable,  because  they  cannot  be  explained. 
We  have  no  right  to  claim  of  God,  that  all  that  he 
reveals  should  be  divested  of  incomprehensibleness. 
Such  a  curiosity  were  unhallowed;  nor  could  any 
limit  be  assigned  to  it,  if  once  indulged.  Angels  do 
not  comprehend  all  that  God  has  revealed  ;  and  why 
should  man  be  dissatisfied? 

That  no  man  can  rationally  believe  facts  which 
he  does  not  comprehend,  is,  of  all  positions,  one  of 
the  most  unreasonable  and  absurd.  If  it  is  reason- 
able to  believe  facts  which  he  cannot  comprehend, 
it  is  reasonable  to  beh'ere  truths  which  he  cannot 
comprehend ;  for  truth  is  but  the  veracious  statement 
of  facts.  The  objector  himself  believes  a  multitude 
of  such  truths,  and  regulates  his  conduct  by  them 
every  day.  Some  of  them  he  perceives  intuitively  : 
they  are,  indeed,  too  plain  to  be  capable  of  proof 
by  any  logical  process.  He  cannot  explain  the  very 
union  between  his  own  body  and  mind ;  nor  the  ac- 
tion of  his  thoughts  upon  his  will ;  nor  the  influence 
of  his  will  upon  his  outward  conduct ;  nor  the  man- 
ner in  which  his  own  mind  holds  intercourse  with 
other  minds,  any  more  than  he  can  explain  how 
God  was  manifest  in  the  flesh,  or  how  his  Spirit  acts 
upon  the  soul  in  fitting  it  for  heaven.  He  cannot 


276  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

escape  from  the  region  of  incomprehensibleness,  go 
where  he  will.  A  revelation  that  instructs  him  in 
the  nature  of  the  incomprehensible  God;  in  his 
counsels  and  government ;  in  the  method  of  his  in- 
comprehensible grace,  and  in  an  incomprehensible 
eternity ;  bears  a  relation  to  realities  so  vast  and  im- 
measurable, that  it  is  constantly  bordering  on  mys- 
tery. It  is  incomprehensible,  for  the  very  reason 
that  it  is  true — truth  that  must  be  incomprehensible, 
because  it  is  lofty  and  sublime  as  its  Author.  These 
are  the  truths,  in  the  contemplation  of  which  "  they 
in  heaven  veil  their  faces  with  their  wings."  You 
cannot  dishonor  these  wondrous  truths,  without  dis- 
honoring their  wondrous  Source.  You  cannot  dis- 
card them  without  discarding  his  whole  revelation  ; 
without  tearing  away  the  foundations  of  human  hope  ; 
without  uprooting  the  truth  which  sustains  the 
branches  and  the  fruit  of  immortality.  Those  very 
truths  of  the  Bible,  therefore,  which  to  the  slight  in- 
spection of  the  rationalist  appear  the  most  objectiona- 
ble to  human  reason,  are  truths  which  human  reason 
might  well  presume  such  a  revelation  would  contain. 
But  we  cannot  establish  the  position  we  have 
taken  in  the  present  chapter,  without  directing  our 
thoughts  somewhat  more  minutely  to  some  of  the 
great  truths  and  principles  which  the  Bible  reveals, 
for  the  purpose  of  seeing  if  they  do  not  constitute  a 
reasonable  system.  If  we  mistake  not,  there  are 
grounds  and  reasons  for  these  truths  sufficient  to 
satisfy  every  sober  and  dispassionate  mind.  They 
are  at  war  with  no  previous  truths  revealed  by  the 


ACCORDANT  WITH  REASON.        277 

lights  of  nature  and  reason,  and  inscribed  on  the 
consciences  of  men ;  but  are,  on  the  other  hand,  in 
perfect  harmony  with  them  all.  It  is  indeed  a  pre- 
sumptuous service  Avhich  we  assign  to  human  reason, 
to  sit  in  judgment  upon  the  truths  which  the  uner- 
ring Oracle  of  the  universe  has  revealed,  and  whose 
"ways  are  past  finding  out."  But  for  the  sake  of 
the  argument,  we  will  give  the  infidel  this  vantage 
ground,  and  ask  him  to  look  into  the  Bible,  and  in- 
dicate to  us  the  truths  against  which  human  reason 
rebels. 

The  leading  truths,  and  those  on  which  all  the  rest 
depend,  are  few,  and  are  very  intelligibly  revealed. 
They  are,  the  sovereign  right  of  the  Great  God  to 
give  law  to  his  creatures — the  apostate  character  and 
lost  condition  of  man  as  the  transgressor  of  that  law — 
the  great  remedy  which  the  Gospel  provides  for  the 
pardon  and  justification  of  all  those  who  truly  re- 
ceive it — the  provision  which  it  makes  for  their  per- 
sonal holiness  and  sanctification — and  the  unalterable 
retributions  of  the  eternal  world.  Let  common  sense 
inspect  these  doctrines  ;  letjreason  investigate  them  : 
let  philosophy  analyze  them — let  her  intellectual 
resources  be  taxed  to  the  uttermost ;  and  they  can 
find  nothing  in  them  that  is  not  worthy  of  having  a 
place  in  their  creed.  They  all  commend  themselves 
to  our  honest  convictions  of  truth  and  right ;  we 
have  but  to  state  them  truly,  and  we  may  safely 
make  the  appeal  to  all  intelligent  beings,  if  they  are 
not  conformed  to  human  reason. 

The  sovereign  right  of  God  to  give  law  to  his 


278  THE   BIBLE   NOT   OF   MAN. 

creatures,  belongs  to  him  from  his  original  and  un- 
derived  supremacy.  Reason  decides  intuitively,  that 
it  is  the  prerogative  of  a  superior  to  give  law  to  his 
inferiors.  This  is  the  prerogative  of  all  civil  rulers, 
whatever  be  the  form  of  government  under  which 
this  prerogative  is  exercised.  And  if  men,  who  have 
no  natural,  but  only  a  borrowed,  delegated  and  con- 
ventional supremacy,  possess  this  right,  much  more 
does  the  Infinite  God  possess  it,  who  is  by  nature 
supreme,  and  whose  power,  wisdom,  goodness  and 
rectitude  qualify  him,  and  him  alone,  to  be  the  uni- 
versal Lawgiver. 

The  doctrine  of  human  apostacy  is  rather  stated 
and  illustrated  in  the  Bible,  than  revealed ;  for  the 
history  of  man  demonstrates  it ;  human  reason,  how- 
ever reluctantly,  confesses  it  to  be  true ;  and  though 
she  strives  to  view  it  in  more  flattering  lights  than 
those  in  which  the  Scriptures  represent  it,  she  is 
constrained  to  behpld  it  in  all  its  ugliness,  and  in 
the  dark  shadows  of  scriptural  truth.  The  conse- 
quent ill  desert  of  man  is  an  unavoidable  inference 
from  his  sinfulness,  deduced  as  certainly  by  reason 
as  by  the  Scriptures.  Reason  decides,  that  no  wise 
and  good  lawgiver  may  overlook  the  violations  of  his 
law.  There  is  no  such  thing  as  law  without  an 
expressed,  or  implied  penalty.  The  force  and  sanc- 
tion of  Taw  consist  in  penalty,  and  without  it  the 
lawgiver  has  no  authority.  Conscience,  too,  every- 
where recognizes  man's  ill  desert  as  the  consequence 
of  his  sin ;  and  no  sooner  does  he  sin,  than  there 
arises  in  his  bosom  a  sense  of  ill  desert,  and  an 


ACCORDANT  WITH  REASON.        279 

indestructible  conviction  of  his  obnoxiousness  and 
obligation  to  punishment. 

Men  in  all  ages  of  the  world  have  adopted  the 
principle,  that  the  wrath  of  Heaven  must  be  appeased 
for  past  offences.  Their  altars  and  their  sacrifices, 
with  one  voice,  bear  testimony  to  the  necessity  of 
some  propitiatory  libations  to  the  offended  Deity. 
What,  then,  is  there  unreasonable  in  the  method  of 
redemption  by  Jesus  Christ  ?  Reason  surely  does 
not  divest  the  Supreme  Lawgiver  of  his  pardoning 
power.  Every  lawgiver  has  a  natural  right  to  exer- 
cise this  prerogative  ;  and  he  has  also  a  moral  right 
to  exercise  it,  wherever  it  can  be  done  without  con- 
flicting with  the  best  interests  of  the  government. 
Whether  the  Great  Lawgiver  could  wisely  and  right- 
fully exercise  the  pardoning  power,  through  the 
mediation  of  another,  who  should  himself  make  sat- 
isfaction to  Divine  justice,  is  a  question  for  the  dis- 
cretion, the  wisdom,  the  rectitude  of  the  Lawgiver 
to  decide.  He  has  decided  it  in  favor  of  such 'a 
commutation  of  punishment,  as  shall  rescue  the  guilty 
without  -destroying  the  innocent  substitute.  That 
there  should  be  no  act  of  injustice  to  the  substitute, 
everything  on  his  part  is  perfectly  voluntary.  And 
that  there  should  be  no  injustice  to  the  government, 
the  substitute  himself  is  of  such  high  consideration 
in  the  court  of  heaven,  that  the  ends  of  justice  are 
not  trifled  with,  but  fully  answered  by  his  substitu- 
tion in  the  place  of  the  guilty.  Now,  why  should 
human  reason  revolt  at  this  ?  Remote  as  it  is  from 
the  ordinary  apprehensions  of  mankind,  does  not 


280  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

reason  decide  that  very  important  ends  are  gained 
by  it,  which  could  not  have  been  gained  by  the 
absolute  and  sovereign  exercise   of  the   dispensing 
power?     Are  there  not  manifestations  of  love  and 
goodness  which  could  not  have  been  made  without 
it  ?     Is  not  such  a  procedure  more  conducive  to  the 
ends  of  justice,  more  expressive  of  the  evil  of  sin, 
better  adapted  to  strengthen  veneration  for  the  law 
and  promote  the  interests  of  good  government,  than 
either  the  sealed  and  certain  ruin  of  the  entire  race, 
or  the  arbitrary  exercise  of  the  pardoning  power 
without  any  atonement  for  transgression  ?     Human 
governments  cannot  exist  without  the  great  principle 
of  representation  ;  the  parent  represents  his  child,  the 
guardian  his  ward  ;  moneyed  associations  their  con- 
stituents :  why  should  this  arrangement  be  impugned 
in  the  Divine  government?     Men  forgive  for  the 
love  of  another ;  and  so  does  God.     Human  govern- 
ments remit  penalty  through  the  intercession  of  men 
of  merit,  men  in  power,  and  men  of  high  and  com- 
manding influence ;  and  so  does  God,  through  the 
intercession  of  his  Son.     Men  accept  the  responsi- 
bility of  one  man  for  the  defalcations  of  another ; 
and  so  does  God.     Men  receive  an  amendment  for 
wrong,  freely  offered  by  another  than  the  wrong- 
doer ;  and  so  does  God.     If  the  Roman  Fabius,  when 
condemned  to  death  by  the  dictator,  was  pardoned 
because  the  Roman  people  implored  that  he  might 
find  mercy  for  their  sakes,  what  is  there  unreasona- 
ble in  the  fact,  that  sinners  of  our  race  should  be  for- 
given for  the  sake  of  Christ  ?     If  the  rigid  execution 


ACCORDANT  WITH  REASON.        281 

of  the  penalty  had  been  ruinous  to  the  entire  race, 
and  clemency  thus  exercised  would  give  authority 
to  the  Divine  government,  why  should  reason  oppose 
such  a  method  of  mercy  ?  Why  may  not  the  Divine 
government  accept  some  competent  substitute,  if 
some  kinsman  Redeemer  can  be  found,  who  is  too 
much  the  friend  of  justice  to  see  sin  go  unpunished, 
and  who  is,  at  the  same  time,  too  much  the  friend 
of  man  to  see  him  sink  under  the  stroke  of  justice  ? 
Why,  I  demand,  may  not  such  a  substitute  be 
accepted,  when  he  not  only  freely  offers  himself  to 
bear  the  mighty  burden,  but  is  able  to  bear  it ;  and 
from  the  low  grave,  to  which  it  crushes  him,  to  rise 
with  new  laurels  on  his  brow,  with  his  rescued  vic- 
tims on  his  breast,  penetrated  by  his  love,  reformed 
and  restored,  loyal  subjects  of  the  Divine  kingdom, 
affectionate  and  dutiful  children  of  the  Divine  fam- 
ily? Is  this  an  unreasonable  redemption?  Were 
all  the  wisdom  of  angels  and  men  collected  in  one 
vast  assembly,  to  scrutinize  this  method  of  mercy, 
with  all  its  wonders,  could  its  reasonableness  be 
challenged,  or  its  fitness  be  called  in  question,  or  its 
moral  influence  impugned? 

This  great  truth  is  connected  in  the  Scriptures 
•with  the  provision  they  make  for  the  personal  holi- 
ness and  sanctification  of  the  fallen.  And  what  is 
there  in  this  that  is  unreasonable  ?  Is  it  not  a  fact, 
that  creatures  depraved  and  degenerate  as  men  are, 
need  a  radical  transformation  of  character  in  order  to 
be  happy  ?  Reason  and  philosophy  urge  the  neces- 
sity of  this  change,  as  well  as  the  Bible. 


'282  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

Is  it  the  decision  of  the  Bible,  that  no  means  and 
no  motives  are  effectual  for  the  production  of  this 
change  ?  Such  is  the  rigid  conclusion  of  reason  and 
experience,  as  well  as  the  decision  of  the  Bible. 

Is  it  the  decision  of  the  Bible,  that  the  Author  of 
this  change  is  God  himself?  Why  should  he  not 
be  ?  Does  reason  decide  that  he  renews  the  face  of 
the  earth,  and  crowns  the  year  with  his  goodness ; 
that  he  opens  his  hand,  and  satisfies  the  desire  of 
every  living  thing  ;  that  he  is  the  Father  of  the  rain, 
and  begetteth  the  drops  of  the  dew ;  and  does  it 
question  if  he  is  the  Author  of  a  spiritual  character 
in  fallen  man  ?  Does  reason  decide  that  every  good 
gift,  and  every  perfect  gift,  is  from  the  Father  of 
lights,  and  that  this  highest  and  best  gift  has  no  such 
divine  origin  ? 

Or  is  it  the  decision  of  the  Scriptures,  that  this 
heaven-imparted  holiness  is  the  fruit  of  the  Sav- 
iour's death,  and  that  it  is  his  love  which  constrains 
men  to  cease  from  their  hostility  to  God,  and  to 
return  to  his  Father,  and  their  Father,  in  his  name  ? 
Is  it  unreasonable  that  this  Great  Sufferer  should 
have  some  reward — some  fitting  recompense  ?  And 
what  so  fitting,  so  reasonable,  as  to  have  gained  the 
olflects  of  his  redemption,  and  when  once  gained, 
that  "  nothing  should  pluck  them  out  of  his  hand  ?" 

We  will  not  pursue  this  specification  of  particu- 
lar truths.  They  are  all  of  a  piece.  Human  reason 
need  not  take  the  alarm  j  she  may  be  satisfied  with 
them.  The  understanding,  the  conscience,  the  heart, 
the  whole  soul  may  be  satisfied  with  them,  as  every 


ACCORDANT  WITH  REASON.       283 

way  worthy  of  God,  as  furnishing  the  highest  proof 
of  his  wisdom  and  love,  as  reading  the  most  instruc- 
tive and  striking  lessons  to  the  universe,  as  announ- 
cing glory  to  God  in  the  highest,  peace  on  earth,  arid 
good  will  to  men.  There  is  no  folly,  no  weakness, 
no  wildness,  nor  extravagance  here.  Wondrous  as 
these  truths  are,  they  are  too  intelligible  to  be  irra- 
tional ;  too  rational  not  to  interest  the  strongest 
intellect.  There  is  a  simplicity  and  grandeur  in 
them  that  rebut  all  the  cavils  of  a  cold  and  sceptical 
rationalism,  and  carry  conviction  to  thoughtful  minds 
that  they  are  of  God.  They  make  common  cause 
with  all  that  is  intelligent  in  the  universe.  They 
form  as  truly  the  religion  of  philosophers,  as  of  the 
common  people.  Some  of  the  greatest  minds  the 
world  has  known,  minds  as  vigorous  and  well-fur- 
nished, minds  which  science  has  been  proud  to  honor, 
have  revelled  in  the  truths  of  the  Bible,  and  been  its 
triumphant  defenders  against  all  the  invasion  of  its 
malignant  foes.  So  far  from  being  a  shallow  system, 
or  making  any  claims  on  the  credulity  of  men,  it 
sounds  the  note  of  alarm  against  all  belief  on  slight 
evidence,  and  is  sure  to  gratify,  by  every  fresh  de- 
mand it  makes  upon  human  intelligence. 

If  from  the  truths  of  Christianity,  we  pass  to 
consideration  of  the  duties  it  enjoins,  we  shall  find 
that  these  also  are  founded  in  the  highest  reason. 
With  the  exception  of  its  positive  institutions,  they 
are  all  founded  in  the  nature  of  the  Deity,  in  the 
nature  of  man,  and  in  the  relations  which  he  sustains 
towards  God  and  his  fellow  men.  There  is  no  form 


284  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

of  iniquity,  be  it  open  excess,  or  hidden  wickedness, 
on  which  it  does  not  frown.  In  every  conflict 
between  right  and  wrong,  however  the  wrong  may 
be  sanctioned  by  custom,  influence,  or  law,  it  is 
always  found  on  the  right  side.  It  has  the  only 
strong  hold  in  the  universe  upon  the  morals  of  indi- 
vidual men,  and  upon  the  moral  sense  and  habits  of 
human  society.  It  silently  inweaves  itself  with  all 
the  relations  of  social  and  public  life,  everywhere 
proclaiming  the  laws  of  rectitude  in  the  ears  of  the 
prince  and  the  peasant.  It  has  no  pious  frauds  ;  no 
fabulous,  or  magic  power ;  no  falsehoods,  by  which 
the  terrors  of  superstition  are  excited,  or  allayed  ;  but 
urges  all  its  obligations  simply  by  the  authority  and 
love  of  its  Author,  and  the  allurement  of  its  truths. 
It  regulates  the  outward  conduct  by  first  regulating 
the  heart,  and  implanting  in  the  inner  man  the  fear 
of  God  and  the  love  of  Jesus  Christ.  It  dimin- 
ishes what  is  imaginary,  and  gives  power  and  pro- 
minence to  what  is  real ;  it  throws  into  the  back- 
ground the  vanities  of  time,  and  brings  forward  in 
bold  relief  the  realities  of  eternity.  It  controls,  not 
by  impulse  and  passion,  but  by  the  strength  of 
principle. 

*The  duties  it  prescribes  are  all  intelligible,  com- 
prehensively expressed,  and  easily  remembered.  Nor 
is  there  one  of  them  that  is  not  right  in  itself,  and 
of  the  happiest  tendency.  It  requires  men  to  love 
that  which  is  lovely,  and  hate  that  which  is  odious  ; 
to  neglect  the  unimportant,  and  pursue  the  impor- 
tant. It  enforces  every  obligation  of  dependence  and 


ACCORDANT  WITH  REASON.        285 

gratitude,  of  nature  and  of  law.  It  gives  its  sanc- 
tion to  everything  which  reason  sanctions.  Reason 
instinctively  revolts  at  every  violation  of  its  laws, 
as  an  unnatural  perversion  of  what  is  right.  Any 
other  system  of  duties  would  at  once  be  felt  to  be 
irrational.  Notwithstanding  all  the  power  which  sin 
exerts  over  the  human  mind,  in  spite  of  itself,  hu- 
man reason  recoils  from  any  moral  direction  different 
from  that  given  to  it  by  Christianity. 

There  is  a  great  difference  between  the  happi- 
ness enjoyed  with  the  approbation  of  conscience,  and 
that  which  is  felt  without,  or  against  it.  There  is, 
no  doubt,  pleasure  in  sinning  :  the  hope  of  unlawful 
gratification  constitutes  the  fatal  charm.  But  there 
is  an  immense  abatement  of  this  happiness,  arising 
from  remorse  and  fear:  the  consciousness  of  guilt 
often  grows  to  such  intensity,  as  more  than  to  coun- 
teract all  the  pleasure.  This  is  the  moral  arrange- 
ment of  the  Bible  :  and  can  there  be  an  arrangement 
more  reasonable,  more  wise  ?  The  language  of  such 
an  arrangement  is,  that  its  Author,  solicitous  as  he  is 
for  the  happiness  of  men,  is  mainly  solicitous  that 
they  should  be  happy  through  the  possession  of  a 
virtuous,  moral  character ;  and  that  their  happiness 
itself  should  be  the  fruit  and  one  of  the  expressions 
of  their  excellence. 

I  ask,  then,  if  Christianity  be  not  accordant  with 
human  reason?  May  not  the  man  of  this  world 
deem  it  the  proudest  eminence  to  which  his  reason 
can  aspire,  to  sit  at  the  feet  of  this  heavenly  Teacher, 
and  bow  without  gainsaying  to  its  every  decision  ? 


286  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

It  is  only  false  and  corrupted  reason  that  fears  the 
Bible,  or  that  the  Bible  frowns  upon.  It  inculcates 
no  unreasonable  doctrine,  insists  on  no  unreasona- 
ble duty,  aims  at  no  unreasonable  end.  It  forms  the 
most  rational  and  consistent  scheme  of  belief,  and 
morals,  and  hopes. 

Let  it  be  compared  with  the  systems  of  ancient 
philosophy,  and  no  dbubt  can  remain  as  to  which  is 
accordant  with  reason.  Let  it  be  compared  with  the 
fictions  of  paganism  ;  with  the  fables  of  its  poets,  and 
the  representations  of  its  historians ;  and  while,  in  its 
best  forms,  paganism  will  be  found  a  disgrace  to 
human  reason,  this  wonderful  Book  will  be  found  to 
be  no  dishonor  to  the  intelligence  of  the  "  God  only 
wise."  Thousands  of  years  rolled  over  the  pagan 
world,  and  its  most  gigantic  minds  in  vain  attempted 
to  invent  a  religion  which  reason  could  approve. 
Never  was  experiment  more  fairly,  or  more  fully 
made ;  never  was  failure  more  complete.  Reason 
covers  her  face,  and  retires  ashamed  from  the  inspec- 
tion. 

With  very  little  pretext  may  men  boast  of  their 
reason,  who  reject  the  Bible.  The  more  this  book 
is  read,  and  the  better  it  is  understood,  the  more 
rational  will  it  appear.  If  men  of  lofty  intellect 
have  disbelieved  it,  it  was  not  owing  to  their  supe- 
rior intelligence.  Intelligence — enlightened,  unbi- 
assed intelligence — cannot  see  that  to  be  irrational 
which  is  not  so.  On  a  multitude  of  subjects,  the 
reason  of  these  very  men  has  been  satisfied  with  a 
tithe  of  the  evidence  that  establishes  the  reasona- 


ACCORDANT  WITH  REASON.        287 

bleness  of  the  Scriptures.  That  there  are  instances 
in  which  intelligent  men  have  rejected  it  from  the 
want  of  evidence  which  to  them  is  inaccessible,  it  is 
^very  difficult  to  believe,  so  long  as  the  Bible  itself  is 
accessible. 

With  the  Bible  in  their  hands,  men  may  be  safely 
left  to  the  sound  deductions  of  reason.  To  one  of 
two  results  reason  will  lead  them.  Legitimately 
followed,  it  will  make  them  Christians,  or  Atheists. 
If  the  Bible  is  not  from  God,  I  see  not  what  is 
from  him.  An  inadequate  cause  is  no  cause.  I 
believe  there  is  a  God,  because  I  find  in  the  world 
such  a  book  as  the  Bible :  demonstrate  to  me  that 
this  book  is  not  of  God,  and  I  cannot  stop  short  of 
blank  Atheism.  God  lives  in  vain,  if  he  has  not 
spoken  in  the  Bible — or  rather,  he  does  not  live — 
there  is  no  God  !  Away,  away  with  this,  thought 
of  blasphemy !  "  The  Lord  liveth,  and  blessed  be 
my  Rock  !"  There  is  reality,  there  is  truth,  there  is 
reason  in  this  Book  of  God.  "Call  now,  if  there 
be  any  to  answer  thee ;  and  to  what  other  wilt  thou 
turn?" 


288  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 


CHAPTER  X, 

CONCLUDING  OBSERVATIONS. 

IF  there  be  the  weight  in  the  preceding  consid- 
erations which  we  attach  to  them,  the  Bible  is  not 
of  man,  but  the  work  of  God.  Penned  as  it  was 
by  men,  with  powers  and  passions  like  our  own, 
yet  was  it  not  in  the  "  words  which  man's  wisdom 
teacheth,  but  which  the  Holy  Ghost  teacheth."  In 
tracing,  in  the  foregoing  imperfect  argument,  those 
developements  of  a  cause  which  is  more  than  human, 
may  we  not  affirm,  "  This  is  the  finger  of  God !" 
Every  distinct  consideration  has  its  separate  degree 
of  importance  ;  while,  in  the  aggregate,  they  form  a 
moral  argument  in  favor  of  Divine  Inspiration,  which 
1  trust  may  be  regarded  as  deserving  a  place  in  the 
considerations  of  reflecting  men. 

1.  There  are  many  thoughts  on  which  it  would 
be  pleasant  to  dwell  in  this  concluding  chapter,  the 
first  of  which  relates  to  the  nature  and  importance 
of  the  argument  from  the  Bible  itself.  The  thought 
of  living  within  the  empire  of  the  God  of  heaven, 
without  any  clearer  indications  of  his  mind  and 
will,  as  to  our  duty  and  final  destination,  than  are 
furnished  by  the  lights  of  reason  and  nature,  ceases 
to  be  painful,  only  when  it  is  forgotten  and  lost 


CONCLUDING   OBSERVATIONS.  289 

sight  of.  The  more  it  is  present  to  the  mind,  and 
the  more  it  is  dwelt  upon,  the  more  it  is  full  of 
agony.  It  is  no  marvel,  that  some  of  the  wiser 
and  more  thoughtful  heathen  of  antiquity  expressed 
the  hope,  that  the  time  would  come  when  light 
would  dawn  from  heaven,  and  dissipate  the  dark- 
ness and  uncertainty  that  enveloped  them. 

A  revelation  from  God  is  indispensably  necessary 
to  make  known  his  will.  The  only  question  is, 
Where  is  this  revelation  contained  ?  We  affirm  that 
it  was  given  at  various  times  and  in  diverse  ways ; 
and  that  it  was  finally  committed  to  writing,  and  is 
contained  in  what  are  called  the  Books  of  the  Old 
and  New  Testaments.  We  maintain,  that  since  the 
completion  of  this  volume  all  immediate  revelations 
from  God  have  ceased ;  and  that  there  is  no  imme- 
diate revelation  of  his  will,  except  that  which  is  here 
expressed. 

We  mean  by  inspiration,  in  the  first  place,  that 
we  have  things  here  revealed  that  are  directly  mat- 
ters of  faith ;  and  that  with  respect  to  these,  both  the 
matter  and  the  words  were  inspired,  and  the  writers 
of  them  are  very  justly  called  the  amanuenses  of  the 
Holy  Ghost.  In  the  next  place,  we  have  revelations 
of  Scripture  facts  handed  down  by  written  tradition, 
and  collected  from  other  authentic  sources,  to  which 
the  writers  were  divinely  directed ,  and  in  the  pre- 
sentation of  which  they  were  enabled,  by  the  Divine 
Spirit,  to  distinguish  the  false  from  the  true.  And 
in  the  third  place,  we  have  a  revelation  of  things,  or 
facts  directly  perceived — seen  and  heard  by  the 

Bibls  not  of  Man. 


290  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

\vriters  themselves;  and  in  recording  which  the 
Divine  Spirit  assisted  their  memories,  so  that  they 
could  put  down  what  they  did  really  see  and  hear. 
In  one  word,  the  God  of  heaven  has  given  such  a 
direction  to  the  writers  of  this  volume,  that  he  is 
responsible  for  the  Book  itself. 

The  proof  that  this  record  is  the  word  of  God. 
is  principally  of  two  sorts ;  external,  and  internal : 
the  first  is  testimony- drawn  from  facts,  and  not  im- 
mediately from  the  Bible ;  the  second  is  evidence 
drawn  directly  from  the  Bible  itself.  This  internal 
evidence,  or  the  evidence  found  exclusively  within 
the  book  itself,  is  separate  from  the  external,  and 
forms  a  distinct  topic  of  consideration.  So  far  as  it 
regards  our  argument,  it  matters  not  who  wrote  the 
sacred  Books,  or  whether  they  were  received  as 
inspired  at  the  time  when  they  first  made  their  ap- 
pearance ;  our  object  has  been  to  show  that  the 
writers  of  them,  whoever  they  may  have  been, 
were  inspired  men. 

The  process  is  a  simple  one  by  which  we  ascer- 
tain what  are  the  works  of  God,  and  what  is  the 
work  of  man.  There  are  works  which  can  be  per- 
formed only  by  the  Infinite  and  Omnipotent  Creator. 
We  have  but  to  look  upon  them,  and  we  know  that 
they  are  his :  our  conclusion  is  one  which  it  is  not 
in  the  power  of  a  sane  mind  to  resist.  The  human 
mind  cannot  conceive  them  to  be  the  work  of  man. 
We  think  it  has  been  shown  that  this  is  true  of  the 
Bible ;  that  it  is  a  production  that  never  could  have 
had  man  for  its  author :  the  supposed  cause  is  inade- 


CONCLUDING  OBSERVATIONS.  291 

quate  to  the  effect.  There  is  no  other  book,  that 
man  might  not  have  written — this  is  the  work  of 
God,  proved  to  be  such  by  the  same  evidence  as 
proves  that  the  sun  in  the  firmament  was  brought 
into  existence  by  his  creative  power.  We  look  at 
the  sun,  and  know  that  man  could  not  have  created  it  ; 
we  inspect  the  Bible,  and  our  convictions  are  equally 
strong,  that  no  unaided  human  pen  could  have 
written  those  wondrous  pages.  The  substance  of 
our  argument  in  favor  of  its  divine  origin  is  just 
this,  and  nothing  more.  A  thinking  man,  ship- 
wrecked on  a  desolate  island,  and  who  knows 
nothing  about  this  Book  save  what  the  Book  itself 
contains,  when  once  he  understands  it,  and  feels  its 
power,  could  not  resist  the  conviction  that  it  is  what 
it  claims  to  be — the  word  of  God. 

If  God  has  revealed  his  will  to  men,  he  must 
have  associated  with  that  revelation  itself  convinc- 
ing evidence  of  its  divine  origin.  There  must  be 
marks  upon  it  that  indicate  its  celestial  birth.  The 
strength  of  the  argument  in  favor  of  its  heavenly 
parentage,  must  be  in  the  Book  itself,  rather  than  in 
anything  which  is  out  of  it — in  those  internal  indi- 
cations which  it  bears  of  its  Divine  Author,  rather 
than  in  those  external  processes  by  which  it  may  be 
traced  to  the  heaven  whence  it  came.  The  human 
mind  requires  stronger  proof  of  its  superhuman 
origin,  than  any  such  historical  research  can  furnish. 
However  strong  those  convictions  of  its  divine 
authority  which  are  produced  by  an  induction  of 
the  historical  argument,  those  convictions  are  stronger 


292  THE   BIBLE   NOT   OF   MAN. 

which  result  from  an  inspection  of  the  Scriptures 
themselves.  We  do  not  deem  it  enough,  that  the 
sacred  writers  themselves  profess  to  be  inspired  ;  this 
is  important  testimony,  but,  aside  from  what  they 
wrote,  it  is  not  decisive ;  and  it  is  only  in  connection 
with  what  they  wrote,  that  it  is  entitled  to  confi- 
dence. On  a  question  where  such  momentous  inter- 
ests are  at  stake,  we  may  look  for  the  best  evidence 
which  the  nature  of  the  case  admits.  And  what  is 
this,  if  not  the  Book  itself  ?  If  the  Book  itself 
does  not  discover  the  hand  of  God,  nor  utter  the 
voice  of  God,  nor  reveal  the  heart  of  God,  there  is 
no  testimony  whatever  that  it  is  not  the  work  of 
man.  Just  as  holy  men  of  old,  when  God  revealed 
himself  to  them  by  the  ministry  of  angels,  or  by 
audible  voices,  or  in  visions,  or  by  Urim  and  Thum- 
mim,  had  the  unwavering  assurance  that  he  himself 
spoke  to  them,  and  not  another,  may  men  have  the 
conviction  that  it  is  God  himself,  and  not  another, 
who  addresses  them  in  his  word.  It  must,  in  the 
nature  of  the  case,  be  a  self-authenticated  revelation. 
It  is  with  grateful  admiration  of  the  condescending 
goodness  of  God,  that  we  contemplate  the  fact,  that 
he  has  rendered  the  evidence  of  divine  inspiration 
accessible  to  those,  who,  although  they  cannot  read 
extensively,  can  and  do  read  the  Bible,  and  discover 
in  it  indubitable  evidence  of  its  heavenly  source. 
This  is  emphatically  the  argument  of  the  un- 
learned— the  poor  man's  argument — hidden  perad- 
venture  "  from  the  wise  and  prudent,  and  revealed 
unto  babes." 


CONCLUDING  OBSERVATIONS.  293 

It  often  happens  that  many  who  are  first  in  human 
learning,  are  last  in  the  knowledge  of  God.  The 
religion -of  the  Bible  is  the  religion  of  the  multi- 
tude ;  not  the  religion  of  the  schools.  A  babe  in 
Christ  discovers  in  it  what  is  never  discovered  by 
the  pride  and  vanity  of  human  learning,  however 
great  its  originality  and  profoundness  of  research. 
The  schools  of  pagan  philosophy  were  among  its 
earliest  and  most  virulent  opposers,  because  it  ob- 
scured their  literary  fame,  and  shook  the  proud 
fabric  of  their  intellectual  ambition.  "  I  cannot 
dispute  for  Christ,"  said  a  heroic  female  martyr,  "  but 
I  can  die  for  him."  Those  who  live  by  the  Bible, 
can  die  by  the  Bible  :  though  amid  burning  fires, 
they  repose  upon  its  promises  as  on  a  bed  of  roses, 
while,  amid  the  fragrance  of  its  unearthly  atmo- 
sphere, their  spirits  return  to  him  who  gave  them. 

The  time  was,  when  men  of  learning  and  men 
of  faith  gave  greater  prominence  to  this  inherent  evi- 
dence, than  to  the  external  testimony.  I  know  not 
from  what  causes  it  has  happened — unless  it  be  that 
the  defenders  of  Christianity  have  been  driven  to  the 
effort  by  the  learning  and  researches  of  infidelity,  as 
well  as  stimulated  by  an  honest  consciousness  of 
their  own  superior  learning  and  researches — that  such 
prominence  has  been  given  by  Christian  writers  to 
this  latter  department  of  inquiry.  The  principal 
writers  in  favor  of  a  supernatural  revelation,  more 
especially  since  the  attacks  made  upon  it  by  Hume 
and  Gibbon,  have  directed  their  attention  mainly  to 
this  external  testimony.  In  so  doing,  they  have  not 


294  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF   MAN. 

only  been  successful,  but  triumphant ;  the  battery 
of  the  enemy  has  been  silenced,  and  the  strong  fast- 
nesses in  which  he  trusted  taken  by  storm.  So  far 
as  my  information  extends,  Lardner,  Michaelis, 
Jones,  Paley,  Chalmers  and  Stuart,  to  say  nothing 
of  others,  have  furnished  a  mass  of  historical  testi- 
mony to  which  infidels  have  not  ventured  to  give 
anything  which  they  themselves  consider  a  reply  :  it 
stands  unassailed — a  conclusive  refutation  of  the 
cavils  of  infidelity  derived  from  historical  sources. 
Yet  after  all  that  may  be  said  in  favor  of  the  his- 
torical argument,  it  is  the  argument  from  the  Book 
itself  which  most  crowds  the  system  of  infidelity. 
A  distinguished  infidel,  when  once  asked,  "  How  is 
it,  that  the  Bible  is  so  far  superior  to  all  other  books 
that  it  can  be  read  over  and  over,  a  thousand  times, 
and  still  retain  all  its  freshness  ;"  and  "  why  no  other 
book  like  it  was  ever  written  ?"  replied,  "  Because 
there  is  not  room  in  the  world  for  two  such  books  !" 
Lord  Herbert,  of  Cherbury,  the  author  of  three  dis- 
tinguished treatises  in  opposition  to  Christianity,  and 
whom  Dr.  Leland,  in  his  "  View  of  Deistical  Wri- 
ters," declares  to  be  "  the  most  eminent  of  them  that 
had  appeared  in  England ;"  urges  in  his  volume,  De 
Religions  Laid,  this  strong  objection  against  the 
historical  argument :  "that  in  order  to  arrive  at  any 
certainty  in  these  matters,  it  would  be  necessary  for 
the  common  people  either  to  learn  all  languages,  to 
read  all  the  celebrated  writers,  and  to  consult  all  those 
learned  men  that  have  not  written — a  method  which 
is  manifestly  absurd  and  impracticable — or  else  to 


CONCLUDING  OBSERVATIONS.  295 

have  recourse  to  a  supreme  judge  of  controversies, 
appointed  by  common  consent."  Fas  est  ab  hoste 
doceri.  There  is  great  weight  in  these  concessions, 
coining  as  they  do  from  infidel  lips. 

The  argument  from  the  Bible  itself  will  also, 
if  I  mistake  not,  be  found  to  be  that  on  which  the 
champions  for  the  historical  argument  do  themselves 
place  the  greatest  reliance.  It  was  eminently  true 
of  the  Reformers,  that  they  wrote  on  this  subject 
like  men  instructed  out  of  the  Bible.  That  God 
alone  is  a  sufficient  witness  of  himself  in  his  word, 
arid  that  the  Scriptures  carry  with  them  a  self- 
evidencing  power,  was  the  teaching  of  Calvin,  of 
Stapfer,  of  Vanmastricht,  of  Witsius,  of  Turretin,  of 
Owen,  of  Beveridge,  of  Baxter,  and  a  multitude  of 
others  who  were  the  most  x  successful  defenders  of 
Christianity.  The  doctrine  of  the  Presbyterian 
church,  beautifully  and  even  eloquently  expressed 
in  her  standards,  is  in  the  following  language  :  "  The 
heavenliness  of  the  matter,  the  efficacy  of  the  doc- 
trine, the  majesty  of  the  style,  the  consent  of  all  the 
parts,  the  scope  of  the  whole  which  is  to  give  glory 
to  God,  the  full  discovery  which  it  makes  of  the 
only  way  of  man's  salvation,  the  many  other  incom- 
parable excellencies,  and  the  entire  perfection  thereof, 
are  arguments  whereby  it  doth  abundantly  evidence 
itself  to  be  the  word  of  God  ;  yet,  notwithstanding, 
our  full  persuasion  and  assurance  of  the  infallible 
truth  and  divine  authority  thereof  is  from  the  inward 
work  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  bearing  witness  by  and 
with  the  word  in  our  hearts."  It  will  be  recollected 


296  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

also,  that  the  Scriptures  themselves,  in  addition  to 
the  argument  from  miracles  and  prophecy,  largely 
insist  on  this  department  of  evidence.  They  make 
their  appeal  to  themselves :  they  challenge  men  to 
"  search  them,"  to  "  prove  them."  The  evidence  is 
not  far  off,  because  the  "  word  is  nigh."  The  light 
which  they  display  declares  by  its  own  luminous- 
ness  its  Mighty  Author  : 


-"  Some  great  Maker, 


In  goodness  and  in  power  preeminent." 

2.  Another  thought  has  reference  to  those  who 
reject  the  divine  authority  of  the  Sacred  Writings. 
The  infidel  affirms  that  this  Book  is  not  from  God. 
What  are  his  reasons  for  this  bold  and  unsupported 
assertion?  Is  it,  that  the  book  itself  is  not  wise 
enough  to  have  God  for  its  author  ? — or  that  it  is 
not  sufficiently  kind  and  benevolent  ? — or  that  it  is 
an  unholy  book  ? — or  that  its  doctrines  are  such  that 
they  must,  or  might  have  been  the  commandments 
of  men  ? — or  that  its  religion  bears  too  strong  a  re- 
semblance to  those  of  man's  devising  ? — or  that  its 
revelations  are  inconsistent  and  contradictory? — or 
that  its  system  of  truth,  and  duty,  and  salvation,  are 
not  fitted  to  a  race  fallen  by  their  iniquity,  soon  to  die, 
and  their  immortal  spirit  to  return  to  the  God  who 
gave  it  ? — or  that  experience  shows  that  it  has  no 
dwelling  in  the  bosoms  of  the  men  to  whom  its  truths, 
its  promises,  and  its  blessed  hopes  are  directed  ? — or 
that  it  is  an  outrage  upon  reason  and  common  sense  ? 
We  have  endeavored  to  make  it  appear,  that  the  con- 


CONCLUDING   OBSERVATIONS.  297 

verse  of  all  these  strange  hypotheses  is  the  only  posi- 
tion that  can  be  substantiated  by  all  ingenuous  and 
fair  reasoning.  The  burden  of  proof,  we  confess,  does 
not  lie  in  the  first  instance  upon  the  infidel,  to  show 
that  this  Book  is  not  divinely  inspired :  it  lies  upon 
believers  in  it  to  show  that  it  is  so.  But  it  should 
startle  the  unbeliever,  that  he  finds  it  so  herculean  a 
task  to  prove  that  it  is  not  so.  It  should  at  least 
lead  him  to  doubt  of  his  infidelity ;  to  question  if  he 
be  not  building  upon  a  false  foundation ;  to  look 
around  him,  and  see  if  he  has  any  foundation  to  stand 
upon  save  empty  air. 

It  is  impossible  for  him  to  know  that  the  Scrip- 
tures are  not  the  word  of  God ;  and  it  is  very  possi- 
ble for  him  to  know  that  they  are  his  word.  There 
is  a  strange  fatality  attending  a  certain  class  of  men, 
in  soberly  persuading  themselves  that  this  Book  is 
an  imposture,  or  is  more  likely  to  turn  out  an  impos- 
ture, because  they  themselves  reject  it.  It  requires 
but  a  single  flash  of  thought,  or  rather  a  single  flash 
of  conscience,  to  dissipate  this  delusion,  and  to  dis- 
cover the  dense  folds  of  darkness  with  which  such  a 
mind  enwraps  itself. 

Upon  the  sceptic's  own  showing,  his  own  con- 
clusions are  doubtful.  He  is  not  sure  that  the  vol- 
ume he  rejects  is  not  the  word  of  the  Living  God. 
And  what  a  fearful,  what  a  tremendous  state  of  mind 
is  this,  to  be  entertained  for  an  hour — to  be  persisted 
in,  to  carry  up  to  the  chamber  where  he  dies,  to 
attend  him  to  his  hereafter,  and  there  to  melt  away 
and  be  dissolved  under  the  strong  and  steady  light 

Bible  not  of  Man.  13* 


298  THE   BIBLE   NOT   OF   MAN. 

of  eternity,  till  it  is  transmuted  and  transformed  into 
absolute,  perfect  despair ! 

Infidels  would  do  well  to  look  somewhat  into 
the  causes  of  their  unbelief,  and  to  institute  a  rigid 
scrutiny  into  the  variety  of  concurrent  circumstances, 
some,  or  all  of  which  have  contributed  to  that  state 
of  mind,  and  that  cast  of  moral  feeling,  which  has 
arrayed  them  against  a  Book  so  full  of  light  and 
love.  Is  it  that  their  reason  is  scandalized  by  it  ?  or 
is  it  that  their  pride  is  wounded,  and  that  their  desire 
of  intellectual  distinction,  and  their  boasted  superi- 
ority over  the  common  opinions  of  mankind,  are  hum- 
bled ?  Is  it  their  benevolence  that  the  Bible  offends, 
and  have  they  persuaded  themselves,  that  their  no- 
tions are  of  any  great  importance  to  the  present  and 
future  well-being  of  their  fellow  men  ?  Is  it  their 
piety  that  is  offended ;  and  is  it  that  their  own  sys- 
tem draws  the  cords  of  moral  obligation  closer  and 
tighter  than  the  Bible,  and  gives  a  negligent  con- 
science less  repose,  and  more  abundantly  multiplies 
the  inducements  to  practical  godliness  ?  Is  it  their 
love  of  truth  that  is  assailed  by  this  Book  of  God, 
and  is  it  solely  for  the  truth's  sake  that  they  oppose 
its  claims?  An  honest  reply  to  these  and  similar 
inquiries,  might  reveal  causes  of  unbelief,  of  the  ex- 
istence and  power  of  which  the  unbeliever  himself  is 
not  fully  conscious.  Such  a  reply  were  a  truthful 
comment  on  the  declaration,  "  Light  is  come  into 
the  world,  and  men  have  loved  darkness  rather  than 
light,  because  their  deeds  are  evil." 

There  is  no  need  of  reminding  infidels  of  the 


CONCLUDING   OBSERVATIONS.  299 

obligations  they  are  under  to  a  character  corres- 
ponding to  the  claims  of  their  infidelity.  We  take 
leave  to  recommend  to  them  to  make  less  of  their 
speculations,  and  more  of  their  character  and  con- 
duct, as  the  safest  and  surest  way  of  coming  at  a 
satisfactory  and  tranquil  conclusion  of  the  great 
inquiry,  Whether  the  Bible  be,  or  be  not,  of  divine 
origin.  Amid  the  advantages  and  privileges  of  a 
Christian  land,  it  is  impossible  for  them  to  shut  out 
the  light,  or  disclaim  the  solemn  and  affecting  obli- 
gations in  which  they  are  involved.  If  there  were 
nothing  but  their  access  to  the  Sacred  Scriptures, 
this  privilege  alone  is  sufficient  to  leave  them  with- 
out excuse.  Let  them  but  deny  ungodliness  and 
worldly  lusts,  and  live  soberly,  righteously,  and  godly 
in  this  present  world ;  and  there  will  be  an  end  to 
their  infidelity.  Let  them  seek  light  from  the  Father 
of  lights,  and  love  from  the  God.  of  love ;  let  them 
be  punctual  and  devout  in  the  duties  of  religion; 
and  their  night  of  darkness  will  be  superseded  by  a 
bright  and  cheerful  day.  Let  them  exemplify  the 
moral  influence  of  the  truth,  in  their  internal  spirit 
and  external  deportment ;  let  them  do  God's  will ; 
and  they  shall  know  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Bible, 
whether  it  be  of  God,  or  the  device  of  an  impostor. 
It  requires  no  sacrifice  of  truth  for  them  to  make 
this  experiment ;  no  compromise  of  principle^  no 
wrong,  or  even  unphilosophical  concessions. 

It  is  not  hazarding  much  to  assert,  that  the  firm- 
est and  most  intrepid  and  inflexible  advocate  of 
infidelity  will  find  little  room  for  doubt,  when  he 


300  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

once  consents  thus  to  prove  and  bring  to  a  practical 
test  the  truth  of  God's  holy  word.  Experience 
shows  that  the  opposite  course  is  the  true  way  to 
make  infidels,  and  to  confirm  them  in  their  infidelity. 
Men  reason  themselves  from  a  Scriptural  to  a  loose 
Christianity,  from  early  imbibed  religious  principles 
to  those  that  are  irreligious,  from  an  intellectual 
conviction  of  the  divine  origin  of  the  Scriptures 
to  an  utter  rejection  and  contempt  of  them,  by  the 
strong  and  irrepressible  desire  to  relax  the  bonds  of 
moral  obligation,  and  to  sin  without  remorse  and 
apprehension.  They  first  reason  themselves  into 
doubt  and  uncertainty,  and  then  into  absolute  in- 
fidelity, because  they  are  hostile  to  the  truth,  and 
dread  the  sense  of  responsibility  which  the  truth 
imposes. 

"Virtue  could  see  to  do  what  virtue  would 
By  her  own  radiant  light 
He  that  has  light  within  his  own  clear  breast, 
May  sit  in  the  centre,  and  enjoy  bright  day ; 
But  he  that  hides  a  dark  soul,  and  foul  thoughts, 
Benighted  walks  under  the  mid-day  sun : 
Himself  is  his  own  dungeon." 

Jt  is  a  fact  of  great  importance  to  be  discovered  and 
appreciated,  that  wickedness,  in  every  form  and  de- 
gree, has  a  tendency  to  obscure  the  light  of  truth, 
and  diminish  the  force,  both  of  the  internal  evi- 
dence and  the  external  testimony  by  which  the 
truth  is  supported.  "  Every  one  that  doeth  evil 
hateth  the  light,  neither  cometh  to  the  light,  lest  his 
deeds  should  be  reproved."  Nor  is  it  any  marvel, 


CONCLUDING  OBSERVATIONS.  3Q1 

when  we  consider  the  rectitude  of  God's  govern- 
ment, that  he  should  send  upon  such  persons  "  strong 
delusions,  that  they  should  believe  a  lie ;  that  they 
all  might  be  damned  who  believe  not  the  truth,  but 
have  pleasure  in  unrighteousness." 

3.  Another  remark  suggested  by  the  kind  of 
evidence  on  which  our  argument  has  rested,  relates 
to  a  long-cherished,  oft-repeated,  and  most  unwar- 
rantable doctrine  of  the  church  of  Rome,  in  regard 
to  the  authority  of  the  Sacred  Writings.  Among 
the  many  Roman  Catholic  principles  the  influence 
of  which  ought  to  be  counteracted,  is  the  bold  as- 
sertion, that  the  fact  that  the  Bible  is  the  word  of 
God  rests  upon  the  testimony  of  the  Papal  church ; 
and  that  the  canonical  authority  of  the  sacred 
Books  is  proved  and  handed  down  from  her  alone, 
as  the  infallible  oracle.  In  all  the  principal  contro- 
versies between  Protestants  and  Romanists,  both  in 
Europe  and  in  this  country,  her  high  boast  is,  that 
the  appeal  of  Protestants  to  the  Bible  is  a  virtual  ap- 
peal to  her ;  because,  as  she  is  pleased  to  say,  it  is  by 
her  decisions  that  the  various  books  which  compose 
it  were  ascertained  to  belong  to  the  divine  record. 

There  is  so  little  force  in  this  reasoning,  or  rather 
in  this  statement,  that  it  scarcely  deserves  to  be 
called  sophistry.  For  the  sake  of  argument,  let  this 
claim  be  conceded.  It  does  not  follow,  that  the 
divine  origin  of  the  Scriptures  rests  upon  her  deci- 
sion ;  nor  that  her  decision  does  anything  more  than 
indicate  where  the  inspired  books  are  to  be  found. 
What  if  the  Council  of  Trent  had  first  invented  the 


302  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

mariner's  compass ;  it  would  not  follow  that  the  ten- 
dency of  the  magnetic  needle  to  the  pole  depends  on 
her  invention.  A  certain  mathematician  of  Greece 
produced  the  evidence,  that  in  any  triangle  the  sum 
of  all  the  angles  is  equal  to  two  right  angles ;  but  it 
does  not  follow  that  the  Grecian  philosopher  origi- 
nated this  truth,  and  that  the  angles  specified  were 
not  equal  to  two  right  angles  before.  If  the  Papal 
church  has  decided  correctly  what  books  belong 
to  the  Sacred  Writings,  it  was  upon  evidence  that 
existed  independently  of  her  decision,  and  because 
they  were  antecedently  of  divine  'origin.  She  did 
not  assign  to  them  their  high  origin : — that  they 
would  have  possessed,  even  though  discarded  by 
Rome.  When  by  an  induction  of  facts  she  satisfied 
herself  that  God  had  already  given  them  that  high 
place  and  character,  she  announced  her  conviction 
and  her  decision  to  the  world.  The  fact  itself,  that 
God  has  given  a  revelation  of  his  will,  was  a  fact 
before  she  announced  her  conviction  of  it ;  her  con- 
viction rested  on  the  fact,  and  not  the  fact  on  her 
conviction  or  decree.  Rome  was  never  more  at 
fault  than  in  this  pretension  to  argument.  She  first 
proves  the  authority  of  the  church  of  Rome  from  the 
Scriptures,  and  then  the  authority  of  the  Scriptures 
from  the  church  of  Rome.  Both  claims  cannot  be 
valid.  For  if  the  authority  of  Rome  depends  upon 
the  Scriptures,  the  authority  of  the  Scriptures  does 
not  depend  upon  Rome ;  or,  if  the  authority  of  the 
Scriptures  depends  upon  Rome,  the  authority  of 
Rome  does  not  depend  upon  the  Scriptures. 


CONCLUDING   OBSERVATIONS.  303 

But  this  is  not  all  we  have  to  suggest  against 
these  arrogant  claims.  If  the  argument  for  the  di- 
vine origin  of  the  Scriptures  which  has  been  pre- 
sented is  a  valid  one,  its  claims  do  not  in  any  degree 
rest  upon  the  decisions  of  Rome,  but  upon  the  inher- 
ent evidence  of  the  Book  itself.  We  may  respect 
the  decisions  of  councils  in  this  matter,  but  we  do 
not  need  them.  We  see  that  this  Book  is  the  word 
of  God  for  ourselves  ;  we  have  a  right,  independently 
of  Rome,  independently  of  all  the  world,  to  examine 
and  judge  of  the  evidence  by  which  its  divine  origin 
is  supported.  When,  with  a  right  spirit,  we  inspect 
the  Book  itself,  our  perceptions  of  its  superhuman 
origin  are  absolutely  irresistible.  A  child  of  five 
years  might  as  well  be  supposed  to  have  been  the 
architect  of  Solomon's  temple,  as  any  uninspired 
man,  or  set  of  men  to  have  been  the  authors  of  the 
Holy  Bible.  Compared  with  the  productions  of  the 
unlettered  fishermen  and  tent-makers  of  Judea,  the 
greatest  productions  of  the  human  mind  on  religious 
subjects  were  like  the  earth  when  it  was  without 
form  and  void,  in  contrast  with  this  fair  creation  as 
it  rose  in  order  and  beauty  at  the  command  of  its 
Creator.  When  we  read  the  Scriptures,  we  discover 
in  them  that  of  which  human  wisdom,  human  good- 
ness, human  purity  were  not  the  authors.  In  an  age 
when  there  are  not  wanting  those  who  would  under- 
mine the  deep  foundations  of  confidence  in  God's 
word,  and  for  its  own  intrinsic  and  superhuman 
excellence  substitute  the  decisions  of  men,  we  have 
deemed  the  argument  which  has  been  presented  in 


304  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

the  preceding  pages,  not  out  of  place.  With  the 
men  who  now  live,  and  those  who  come  after  us, 
the  struggle  with  Rome  is  not  over.  The  turning 
point  in  the  controversy  with  her  respects  the  word 
of  God,  as  the  only  infallible  rule  of  faith  and  prac- 
tice. Without  the  internal  evidence  of  its  divine 
origin,  Rome  might  have  the  vantage  ground ;  with 
this  evidence,  the  vantage  ground  is  ours. 

4.  Another  subject  on  which  the  preceding  argu- 
ment may  legitimately  have  an  important  bearing, 
respects  the  province  of  reason  in  all  matters  of 
religious  faith.  We  have  no  quarrel  with  those 
who  advocate  the  right  of  private  judgment.  It 
belongs  to  man,  from  the  constitution  of  his  intel- 
lectual and  moral  nature.  The  faculty  of  judg- 
ment was  given  in  order  to  be  exercised ;  the  right 
to  exercise  it  is  implied  in  the  exhibition  of  all  the 
evidences  by  which  the  truth  is  established ;  it  is 
implied  in  the  doctrine  of  personal  responsibility, 
and  in  the  nature  of  religion  as  a  personal  thing  ; 
divine  revelation  itself  makes  an  appeal  to  it ;  while 
for  the  exercise  of  it  men  are  accountable  to  God 
alone.  "  To  their  own  Master  they  stand,  or  fall. 
Who  art  thou  that  judgest  another  man's  servant  ?" 
But  while  we  say  these  things,  we  are  not  to  forget, 
that  thinking  error  to  be  truth  does  not  make  it 
truth  ;  and  that  it  is  only  when  men  come  to  right 
conclusions,  that  they  may  not  only  think  they  are 
right,  but  know  themselves  to  be  so.  The  Holy 
Scriptures  are  the  only  safe  directory.  Antiquity 
cannot  guide  us ;  for  if  it  does,  it  is  quite  as  likely 


CONCLUDING  OBSERVATIONS.  305 

to  lead  us  into  error  as  into  truth.  Tradition  cannot 
guide  us  ;  it  is  too  intangible  and  indefinite — we 
know  not  where  to  look  for  it.  Human  reason, 
with  all  her  boasted  powers,  and  all  her  rights  of 
private  judgment,  cannot  guide  us — she  herself 
needs  a  guide. 

We  do  not  deny,  that  human  reason  has  its  appro- 
priate province  in  every  question  of  religious  truth ; 
but  its  limits  are  reduced  to  the  single  effort  of  ascer- 
taining what  God  has  revealed.  It  is  not  a  teacher, 
but  a  pupil :  its  province  is  not  to  dictate,  but  to  learn, 
and  submit  to  the  dictates  of  unerring  wisdom  :  its 
proper  employment  is,  not  to  decide  what  the  word 
of  God  ought  to  contain,  but  simply  to  find  out  what 
it  does  contain.  It  is  absolutely  shut  up  to  the  bind- 
ing force  of  instructions  revealed  from  heaven.  No 
matter  how  fearlessly  men  come  to  the  word  of  God, 
so  long  as  they  come  honestly  ;  not  to  pronounce 
judgment  on  what  God  has  revealed,  but  to  form 
their  judgment  by  the  divine  testimony.  I  said,  no 
matter  how  fearlessly  :  perhaps  the  language  is  too 
strong.  "  The  meek  will  he  guide  in  judgment ; 
the  meek  will  he  teach  his  way."  The  understand- 
ing is  darkened  by  sin ;  and  it  were  no  marvel,  if 
the  inspired  writers  do  not  pay  the  profoundest 
homage  to  human  wisdom.  "  Open  thou  mine  eyes, 
that  I  may  behold  wondrous  things  out  of  thy  law," 
is  the  most  reasonable  language  in  the  world  for  man 
who  is  a  worm.  It  is  the  true  characteristic  of  a 
great  mind.  The  truest  and  the  profoundest  rea- 
soner  on  religious  subjects  is  the  truest  and  the  pro- 


306  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

foundest  listener  to  the  teachings  of  heavenly  truth. 
You  may  not  alter ;  you  may  not  expunge ;  you 
may  not  supply ;  you  may  not  wrest  from  its  true 
import  a  single  truth  which  God,  the  Lord,  has 
uttered.  "  If  I,  or  an  angel  from  heaven,  preach 
any  other  gospel,  let  him  be  accursed!"  Here 
reason  may  rest  with  confidence,  as  the  ultimate 
ground  of  authority.  Desert  this  record,  and  all  is 
the  darkness  of  midnight — the  abyss  of  Atheism. 
Reason  is  no  longer  rational  than  she  is  satisfied 
with  a  record  that  has  the  endorsement,  the  seal 
and  superscription,  of  Eternal  wisdom. 

5.  Another  remark  from  the  preceding  discus- 
sion, relates  to  a  common  error  of  modern  Rational- 
ists. There  is  a  class  of  minds,  in  which  the  spirit 
of  inquiry  supersedes  the  love  of  truth.  Truth 
already  attained  holds  a  less  important  place  in  their 
estimation  than  that  which  is  doubtful  and  sought 
after.  Whether  there  be  more  of  egotism  than  the 
love  of  truth  in  this  state  of  mind,  they  who  cher- 
ish it  can  perhaps  best  decide.  It  is  no  uncommon 
thing  to  boast  of  light  that  is  new,  when  it  is  only 
new  to  us  ;  while  the  incense  that  is  offered  on  the 
altar  of  a  proud  and  self-complacent  egotism,  may 
indicate  the  ignorance,  as  well  as  the  vanity  of  the 
worshipper. 

The  love  of  investigation  merely,  where  it  is  not 
under  the  influence  of  a  humble  and  docile  spirit,  is 
much  more  likely  to  give  the  thoughts  a  wrong, 
than  a  right  direction.  There  are  those  who  are 
"  ever  learning,  and  never  come  to  the  knowledge 


CONCLUDING    OBSERVATIONS.  3Q7 

of  the  truth."  They  live  upon  intellectual  excite- 
ment, rather  than  upon  intellectual  gratification. 
"  If,"  says  the  German  philosopher  Lessing — "  if 
God  held  in  his  closed  right  hand  all  truth,  and  in 
his  left  the  single,  ever  active  impulse  after  truth, 
though  with  the  condition  that  I  should  wander  in 
continual  error,  and  should  say,  Speak ;  choose  !  I 
would  humbly  point  to  the  left  hand  and  say,  Father, 
give : — pure  truth  is  for  thee  alone !"  There  is 
ensnaring  beauty  in  such  a  representation  as  this, 
and  there  is  seeming  modesty ;  while  in  reality  it  is 
but  an  ingenious,  though  transparent  covering  of  a 
heart  that  "  loves  darkness  rather  than  light."  Such 
is  the  sceptic's  love  of  truth,  but  not  the  Christian's. 
The  intellectual  excitement  fostered  by  doubt,  hesi- 
tation and  inquiry,  is  not  enough  for  him.  To  think, 
to  search,  to  be  "  driven  about  by  every  wind  of 
doctrine,"  is  not  enough  for  him.  It  is  not  the  labor 
merely,  but  the  fruit  that  he  desires :  it  is  not  intel- 
lectual excitement,  but  intellectual  repose  :  it  is  not 
doubt  that  he  is  seeking  after,  but  certainty.  He  is 
a  lover  of  truth — that  never  alters.  If  he  can  but 
learn  the  truth,  he  will  listen  thoughtfully  to  it,  in 
whatever  guise  it  approaches  him.  He  will  sit  hum- 
bly at  the  feet  of  his  Divine  Teacher,  or  gather  it 
from  the  lips  of  babes.  A  single  truth,  stamped  with 
the  impress  of  Heaven,  outweighs  with  him  all  the 
vain  pride  of  the  mere  philosopher  and  rationalist  in 
his  researches.  The  spirit  of  inquiry  is  not  one 
which  he  wishes  to  see  suppressed,  or  even  embar- 
rassed ;  but  he  would  that  it  were  always  wisely 


308  THE  BIBLE  NOT   OF   MAN. 

directed,  and  made  subservient  to  truth.  And  where 
can  it  be  indulged  so  freely,  where  is  there  such  scope 
for  it,  as  in  "  the  depth  of  the  riches  both  of  the  wis- 
dom and  the  knowledge  of  God  ?"  God  has  wisely 
bestowed  upon  us  this  ever  active  impulse  after 
truth,  but  with  no  condition  that  leads  us  to  error. 
Nay  :  while  he  opens  his  left,  he  also  opens  his  right 
hand,  dispensing  with  exuberant  bounty  truth,  pure 
truth,  from  the  eternal  habitation  where  he  dwells. 

The  thought  has  more  than  once  been  suggested, 
that  the  evidence  by  which  the  divine  origin  of  the 
Sacred  Writings  is  established,  is,  after  all,  nothing 
more  than  that  which  results  from  the  manifold  com- 
bination of  strong  probabilities  in  its  favor.  The 
writer  well  remembers  the  impression  which  this 
thought  made  upon  his  own  mind  in  early  life,  when 
he  first  met  with  it  in  a  published  discourse  of  a 
justly  celebrated  theologian  of  our  country.  "  No 
Christian,"  says  this  writer,  "  can  certainly  know  that 
the  Gospel  itself  is  of  divine  inspiration."  It  were 
no  marvel  if  this  single  remark,  as  dangerous  as  it  is 
unwarranted,  had  made  as  many  unbelievers,  as  the 
able  and  unanswerable  discourses  of  the  same  author 
on  "  The  Nature  and  Danger  of  Infidel  Philosophy" 
have  made  believers.  Whatever  depends  on  probable 
evidence  only,  can  never  produce  the  conviction  of 
certainty.  The  most  that  can  be  said  of  all  proposi- 
tions of  this  sort  is,  that  there  is  a  strong  probability 
in  their  favor ;  and  that  they  are  rather  suspended 
over  the  fancy  as  an  airy  vision,  than  recognized  as 
immutable  truth.  I  confess  I  shudder  at  the  thought 


CONCLUDING  OBSERVATIONS.  3Q9 

that  we  have  no  higher  evidence  in  favor  of  the 
divine  origin  of  the  Scriptures.  Is  it  so  ?  Is  it  so, 
that  nothing  more  can  be  affirmed  of  the  divine  lega- 
tion of  Moses  and  the  prophets,  Christ  and  the  apos- 
tles, than  that  it  is  in  a  very  high  degree  probable  ? 
Is  it  no  more  than  probable  that  there  was  such  a 
personage  as  Jesus  Christ,  "  who  was  delivered  for 
our  offences,  and  rose  again  for  our  justification?" 
Did  Paul  reason  thus,  when  he  said,  "I  know  whom. 
I  have  believed  ?"  Did  John  reason  thus,  when  he 
said,  "  We  Jcnow  that  when  he  shall  appear,  we  shall 
be  like  him  ?"  Perish  all  such  scepticism  as  this ! 
Trust  it,  who  may ;  but  God  forbid  that  the  faith  of 
his  people  should  rest  on  such  a  questionable  basis ! 
The  highly  respected  and  venerable  author  himself, 
to  whom  we  have  just  referred,  in  defiance  of  his 
theory,  could  not  help  contradicting  it,  whenever  his 
own  ardent  and  strong  mind  kindled  with  the  impor- 
tance and  responsibility  of  his  theme.  Comparing 
Christianity  with  infidel  philosophy,  he  says,  "  Here 
is  no  uncertainty,  no  wavering,  no  tossing  on  the 
billows  of  anxiety,  no  plunging  into  the  gulf  of  des- 
pair ;  your  path  is  a  straight  and  beaten  way,  and 
were  you  way-faring  men  and  fools,  you  need  not 
err  therein." 

Every  proposition  within  the  circle  of  moral 
science,  is  either  certainly  true,  or  certainly  false : 
otherwise  we  know,  and  can  know  nothing  about 
it.  We  may  conjecture  much,  and  hope  much ;  we 
may  be  strongly  persuaded ;  but  we  know,  absolutely 
nothing  :  our  minds  must  necessarily  be  in  that  state 


310  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

of  suspense  which  is  the  medium  between  absolute 
certainty  and  absolute  unbelief.  And  this  state  of 
suspense  admits  of  as  many  degrees  as  there  are 
between  the  lowest  and  highest  probability.  If  such 
were  the  basis  of  our  reasoning  in  regard  to  the 
divine  origin  of  the  Sacred  Writings,  it  would  be 
impossible  for  us  absolutely  to  affirm,  or  deny  the 
truth  on  this  great  question.  We  might  have  a  pre- 
vailing opinion  one  way  or  the  other,  which  ap- 
proaches the  nearest  step  to  certainty ;  but  we  must 
still  have  some  degree  of  doubt.  There  is  nothing 
desirable  in  such  a  state  of  mind  as  this  on  any  sub- 
ject ;  much  less  on  the  great  subject  involved  in  the 
preceding  discussion.  Unless  it  be  from  a  strong 
desire  to  divest  himself  of  all  moral  obligation,  or 
from  a  vain  desire  of  intellectual  distinction,  or  from 
the  dread  of  credulity,  or  from  the  love  of  error,  no 
man  ever  prefers  ignorance  to  knowledge,  doubt  to 
certainty.  On  some  subjects  there  is  no  necessity 
for  such  a  state  of  mind,  because  there  is  no  foun- 
dation in  the  nature  of  the  subjects  themselves  for 
uncertainty.  Nor  is  there  any  foundation  for  uncer- 
tainty in  the  nature  of  the  subject  we  have  been  con- 
sidering. The  proposition  that  the  Scriptures  of  the 
Old  and  New  Testaments  are  of  divine  origin,  is 
either  true,  or  false — it  is  either  certainly  true,  or 
certainly  false.  It  cannot  in  its  own  nature  be  a 
doubtful  question.  It  may  be  doubtful  in  the  mind 
of  the  inquirer;  but  it  is  not  so  in  itself,  and  in 
reality.  There  is  truth  and  certainty  on  this  subject, 
as  well  as  every  other,  and  nothing  but  truth  and 


CONCLUDING  OBSERVATIONS.  31 1 

certainty.  The  admission  of  the  opposite  hypothe- 
sis unsettles  the  whole  subject ;  nor  can  those  who 
admit  such  an  hypothesis,  gain  anything  more  than 
to  keep  truth  and  certainty  at  a  distance  from  their 
own  minds,  and  the  minds  of  others,  for  a  time  only. 
Certainty  exists,  and  it  is  impossible  to  reason  it  out 
of  existence ;  while  every  effort  to  do  so  is  as  logically 
absurd  as  it  is  practically  unwise. 

It  is  certainty  that  we  have  been  seeking  in  the 
foregoing  pages.  We  hope  we  have  sought  it  honest- 
ly and  modestly.  But  we  have  no  desire  to  disguise 
the  fact  that  we  have  sought  it.  Those  who  doubt  on 
this  subject,  do  so  where  there  is  no  room  for  doubt- 
ing. No  man  is  called  on  to  believe  that  the  Bible  is 
not  of  man,  merely  because  there  is  a  strong  prepon- 
derance of  probabilities  that  man  was  not  its  author. 

6.  We  may  not  overlook,  in  these  concluding  ob- 
servations, the  great  importance  of  established  prin- 
ciples on  all  religious  subjects.  The  truth  cannot  be 
too  often  repeated,  nor  too  deeply  felt,  that  men  are 
no  better  than  their  principles.  There  are  excep- 
tions to  the  remark,  that  where  a  man's  principles  are 
good,  his  character  is  good ;  but  it  is  always  true,  that 
where  his  principles  are  bad,  his  character  is  bad. 
Right  principles  lie  at  the  foundation  of  moral  obli- 
gation. No  man  is  one  thing  in  his  principles,  and 
another,  and  the  opposite,  in  his  sense  of  duty.  Con- 
science is  governed  by  light  and  truth ;  and  just  so 
far  as  the  character  is  controlled  by  conscience,  it  is 
controlled  by  principles.  The  character  of  men  has 
its  sources  and  foundation.  The  principles  of  a  man 


312  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

lie  at  the  foundation  of  his  character,  and  influence 
his  thoughts,  his  emotions,  his  conversation,  his  de- 
portment. "  Men  do  not  gather  grapes  of  thorns,  nor 
figs  of  thistles."  Nor  may  they,  with  any  more  sem- 
blance of  reason,  look  for  a  virtuous  and  good  char- 
acter from  principles  that  are  vicious  and  bad.  Moral 
rectitude,  is  conformity  of  heart  and  life  to  truth  ; 
wickedness,  is  conformity  to  error.  The  devil  first 
corrupted  men,  and  corrupts  them  still,  by  inducing 
them  to  adopt  false  principles ;  and  in  all  the  efforts 
of  his  mercy  to  reclaim  them,  the  great  means  which 
the  God  of  truth  makes  use  of  are  principles  of  the  op- 
posite character.  In  all  the  ordinary  affairs  of  human 
life,  men  are  controlled  by  their  principles.  The  poli- 
tician is  controlled  by  his  principles  of  government ; 
the  merchant,  by  his  principles  of  commerce  ;  the  ju- 
rist, by  his  principles  of  law  ;  the  scholar,  by  his  prin- 
ciples of  literature  and  science.  It  is  impossible  that 
men,  in  the  exercise  of  their  rational  faculties,  and  a 
due  discretion,  should  be  controlled  in  any  other  way. 

The  same  may  be  said  of  principles  that  are  relig- 
ious, or  irreligious.  No  matter  when,  or  where,  or 
how  they  are  imbibed,  they  exert  an  influence  ;  just 
as  wheat  produces  wheat,  or  tares  produce  tares, 
whether  sowed  by  the  agriculturist,  or  deposited 
by  the  wind  or  the  birds  of  the  air.  Nor  is  the  ap- 
propriate influence,  either  of  good  or  bad  principles, 
prevented  or  impeded  by  the  sincerity  with  which 
they  are  received ;  but  rather  secured  by  it,  and  ren- 
dered more  permanent. 

Nor  is  this  abstract  speculation  j  it  is  the  state- 


CONCLUDING  OBSERVATIONS.  313 

ment  of  facts.  History,  both  sacred  and  profane, 
shows  them  to  be  facts ;  biography  shows  them  to 
be  facts  ;  observation  and  consciousness  demonstrate 
them  to  be  veritable  realities.  The  true  character 
of  the  pagan  world — the  true  character  of  the  fol- 
lowers of  Mahomet; — the  true  character  of  papal 
Rome — of  Protestantism,  of  Infidelity,  and  of  Chris- 
tianity, is  to  be  traced  to  the  respective  principles  of 
each  of  these  distinct  systems  of  religion.  Princi- 
ples are  nothing  without  their  practical  nature  and 
tendency.  What  is  virtuous  character,  if  not  the 
application  of  virtuous  principles  to  the  heart  and 
life  ?  and  what  constitutes  vicious  character,  if  not 
the  application  of  vicious  principles  to  the  heart  and 
life  ?  Good  principles  generate  good  institutions, 
good  habits  ;  evil  principles,  those  that  are  evil.  Let. 
good  principles  hold  dominion  over  the  minds  of 
men,  and  virtue  and  true  piety  will  progressively 
win  their  way  over  our  lost  world;  while,  in  the 
same  proportion  in  which  loose  and  evil  principles 
hold  dominion,  will  virtue  languish  and  wickedness 
triumph. 

And  not  only  may  this  result  be  looked  for  as 
the  natural  and  necessary  sequence  of  the  effect 
from  the  cause ;  but  it  is  the  matter  of  deliberate, 
moral  calculation.  Men  imbibe  and  cherish  good 
principles,  with  the  deliberate  and  express  design  of 
being  influenced  by  them ;  and  when  they  pursue  a 
wrong  course  of  conduct,  they  fall  back  upon  wrong 
principles  to  justify  them.  They  intend  to  be  gov- 
erned by  their  principles,  be  they  good  or  bad.  No 

Bible  not  of  Man. 


314  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

man  attributes  his  character  to  accident  or  contin- 
gency ;  nor  does  he,  for  any  considerable  time,  ever 
suppose  that  his  principles  will  be  ineffectual  and 
abortive.  If  men  act  from  good  principles,  it  is 
because  they  mean  to  do  so ;  and  if  they  act  from 
bad  principles,  while  they  may  not  acknowledge 
that  their  principles  are  corrupt,  they  would  rather 
be  driven  to  this  acknowledgment,  than  to  the  con- 
fession that  they  act  from  no  principle  at  all.  It  is 
for  the  most  part  the  deliberate  purpose  of  men,  that 
their  principles  shall  affect  their  character  and  con- 
duct. Voltaire,  Diderot,  D'Alembert,  and  Frederic 
of  Prussia,  rejected  the  Christian  religion ;  and  their 
object  in  so  doing  was  to  fortify  themselves  in  their 
sworn  confederacy  to  subvert  all  religion  and  estab- 
lished order,  and  introduce  the  reign  of  universal 
licentiousness.  David  Hume  lived  and  died  an 
avowed  sceptic  and  Atheist ;  and  though  the  annals 
of  scepticism  do  not  furnish  a  more  favorable  exam- 
ple of  moral  reputation,  his  life  and  death  show  that 
he  intended  his  conduct  should  be  governed  by  his 
principles.  His  life  was  devoted  to  unsettling  all 
fixed  principles  of  belief  in  the  human  mind ;  to 
subverting  the  whole  system  of  moral  obligation ; 
to  obliterating  a  sense  of  God's  authority  from  the 
conscience,  and  to  inculcating  the  innocence  of  the 
greatest  crimes ;  while  his  dying  hours  were  occupied 
at  the  card  table,  and  the  thoughts  of  his  dying  pil- 
low devoted  to  his  insipid  raillery  of  the  doctrine  of 
a  future  state  and  final  retribution. 

The  infidelity  of  the  present  age  has  learned  a 


CONCLUDING    OBSERVATIONS.  315 

better  lesson  than  to  hold  the  Bible  in  contempt.  It 
is  a  part  of  its  policy  to  award  to  it  great  excellence, 
a  sound  morality,  and  a  benign  influence  on  the 
social  relations.  It  regards  the  writers  of  it  as  far 
in  advance  of  their  contemporaries  in  moral  science, 
and  as  deserving  higher  consideration  than  the  most 
eminent  of  ancient  sages.  But  it  does  not  award  to 
it  the  infallibility  of  unerring  wisdom,  nor  listen  to 
it  as  the  oracle  of  God.  It  is  a  more  specious  ififi- 
delity  than  that  of  Voltaire  and  Paine,  but  it  is 
infidelity  still.  It  has  strong  pretensions  to  an  im- 
partial rationalism ;  it  has  the  semblance  of  ingenu- 
ousness and  candor ;  it  invests  itself  with  the  broad 
mantle  of  a  professed  charity ;  but  it  pays  its  court 
to  unblushing  infidelity,  and  reduces  the  Book  of 
God  to  a  level  with  the  teachings  of  uninspired  men. 
It  has,  too,  a  scholar-like  modesty.  It  would  not  be 
too  confident ;  decently  suggesting,  that  strong  and 
tangible  proof  is  excluded  from  this  sphere  of  relig- 
ious inquiry. 

Now  we  deem  it  important  to  possess  better  and 
more  established  principles  on  this  great  subject  than 
any  of  these.  This  is  not  the  reception  the  Sacred 
Writings  demand.  Their  credentials  are  of  such 
force  and  authority,  as  to  afford  no  room  for  this 
hesitating  state  of  mind.  If  they  are  a  cunningly 
devised  fable,  no  matter  how  soon,  or  how  decidedly 
they  are  exploded  ;  if  they  are  true,  every  man  ought 
to  be  satisfied  of  their  truth,  and  hold  them  fast  to 
the  end. 

We  cannot  appreciate  too  highly  the  importance 


316  THE  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN. 

of  firm  and  established  principles  on  this  great  sub- 
ject, and  more  especially  in  strong  and  well-culti- 
vated minds.  Truth  is  easily  distinguished  from 
error,  when  men  are  once  willing  to  see  the  differ- 
ence ;  and  when  they  are  once  willing  to  see  this, 
they  will  no  longer  regard  it  as  of  little  consequence 
what  they  believe.  "  Buy  the  truth  and  sell  it  not," 
is  the  kind  counsel  of  heavenly  wisdom.  Nothing 
is  too  dear  to  part  with  for  the  truth.  Pride,  vain 
reason,  prejudice,  interest,  sloth,  sin,  the  favor  of 
men,  are  all  of  little  worth  compared  with  the  truth 
of  God.  Buy  it  at  any  rate ;  part  with  it  for  no- 
thing— not  for  ease,  nor  fame,  nor  gold,  nor  life. 
Love  the  truth,  adorn  the  truth,  honor  the  truth ; 
be  witnesses  for  the  truth,  and  the  truth  shall  make 
you  free. 

7.  It  were  also  a  natural  deduction  from  the  series 
of  observations  presented  in  this  volume,  and  not  to 
be  omitted,  that  the  Sacred  Writings  deserve  the 
most  serious  and  patient  study,  and  affectionate 
regard.  It  is  the  Great  God  who  speaks  to  men  in 
these  writings.  It  is  God  your  Maker,  your  Law- 
giver, your  Redeemer,  your  Judge.  It  is  the  voice 
of  your  Father  who  is  in  heaven,  uttering  truths 
which  no  human  intellect  ever  conceived  ;  dictating 
them  by  his  own  Spirit,  and  subscribing  them  with 
his  own  name  and  seal.  He  who  inhabits  eternity, 
and  fills  arid  occupies  it  as  his  own  dwelling-place, 
here  makes  discoveries  of  the  eternal  world  to  the 
view  of  mortals,  as  momentous  as  the  heaven  where 
he  dwells.  Every  other  book  is  fiction  and  romance, 


CONCLUDING    OBSERVATIONS.  317 

compared  with  this.  If  there  be  an  altar  where  the 
human  intellect  may  how  in  profoundest  reverence, 
and  where  human  learning  may  find  laurels  that 
never  wither,  it  is  at  the  altar  of  revealed  truth. 
These  wondrous  writings  have  done  more  to  extend 
the  field  of  human  thought,  than  all  others  combined. 
Men  of  genius  and  learning,  men  who  have  been  dis- 
tinguished for  superior  strength  of  mind,  for  elo- 
quence of  tongue  and  pen,  for  brilliancy  of  imagina- 
tion and  acute  powers  of  disquisition,  on  opening  the 
Bible,  have  found  themselves  to  be  children  ;  and 
been  constrained  to  honor  its  ever-blessed  and  ador- 
able Author. 

"  Learning  has  borne  such  fruit  in  other  days 
On  all  her  branches  ;  piety  has  found 
Friends  in  the  friends  of  science,  and  true  prayer 
Has  flowed  from  lips  wet  with  Castalian  dews." 

Names  that  are  the  adornment  of  their  race,  and  in 
the  highest  and  most  enlightened  classes  of  society, 
have  identified  their  ripest  honors  with  their  apolo- 
gies for  the  Christian  faith. 

This  one  Book  will  live  when  the  remembrance 
of  all  other  books  is  passed  away.  It  will  go  down 
through  the  successive  generations  of  men ;  and 
when  the  earth  shall  be  burnt  up,  and  the  heavens 
shall  pass  away  with  a  great  noise,  it  shall  remain 
inscribed  on  the  hearts  of  an  exceeding  great  mul- 
titude, which  no  man  can  number.  It  shall  go  up 
to  the  bar  of  God,  shall  enter  into  the  gates  of  the 
heavenly  city,  and  there  be  hailed  as  the  charter  of 
14* 


318  THE  BIBLE   NOT   OF  MAN. 

its  immortal  joys.  Precious,  precious,  thrice  precious 
Book  of  God !  It  can  cheer  when  every  other  com- 
forter is  far  away.  It  can  visit  the  chambers  of 
solitude,  and  counsel  and  comfort  on  the  bed  of  lan- 
guishing. It  can  soothe  griefs  which  nothing  else 
can  soothe.  It  holds  up  the  torch-light  of  heaven's 
tenderest  mercy  in  the  midst  of  the  dark  valley ;  it 
is  the  comforter  of  the  otherwise  comfortless,  wip- 
ing away  the  tear  that  trembles  in  the  eye  which 
fixes  its  last  look  on  things  below.  Who  that  does 
not  deliberately  purpose  to  live  without  God,  and 
without  hope ;  that  is  not  prepared  to  seal  the  Avar- 
rant  that  consigns  him  to  a  hopeless  death  and  an 
undone  eternity ;  can  live  in  the  allowed  neglect  of 
the  Holy  Scriptures  ?  "  Hear  ye,  and  give  ear ;  be 
not  proud,  for  the  Lord  hath  spoken."  That  man 
shall  not  lose  his  reward,  who  is  a  diligent  and  hum- 
ble student  of  God's  word.  We  do  earnestly  invite 
the  sons  and  daughters  of  men  to  this  rich  field  of 
thought.  We  bid  them  rove  over  it  from  flower  to 
flower,  and  we  bid  them  dig  for  its  hidden  treasures. 
It  has  running  streams,  and  sparkling  fountains,  and 
deep  wells,  at  which  he  who  drinks  shall  find  living 
water. 

It  were  a  fearful  state  of  mind  to  believe  in  the 
divine  origin  of  this  holy  Book,  and  neglect  its  great 
salvation.  This  is  one  of  those  facts  in  the  moral 
history  of  man,  which  his  extreme  depravity  alone 
can  account  for.  The  simple  truth  that  the  Bible  is 
the  word  of  God,  one  would  think,  were  enough  to 
rouse  every  man  who  reads  it  from  spiritual  apathy, 


CONCLUDING  OBSERVATIONS.  319 

and  fix  impressions  on  his  mind  that  would  render 
him  solemn  as  eternity.  Yet  is  there  not  one  of  all 
the  truths  here  revealed,  but  is  sober  verity.  It  is 
even  so.  The  God  of  truth  declares  it.  There  is 
no  delusion  in  the  Bible.  No,  there  is  no  delusion 
in  the  Bible.  Its  great  God,  its  holy  God,  its  just 
God,  its  God  of  love  and  mercy,  is  the  greatest  of  all 
realities.  Its  vast  and  immeasurable  eternity,  where, 
though  millions  of  ages  roll  away,  they  shorten  not 
its  duration,  is  too  an  unwasting  reality.  Its  all 
gracious,  Almighty,  and  Infinite  Saviour  too,  is  the 
same  yesterday,  to-day,  and  for  ever. 

O  ye,  who  are  fallen  by  your  iniquity,  and  to 
whom  this  wondrous  redemption  is  revealed  and 
offered  in  the  Bible — ye,  who  are  so  insensibly  and 
rapidly  borne  on  the  broad  and  rapid  torrent  of  time 
to  that  eternity,  where  the  friends  of  this  Bible  and 
this  Saviour  will  encircle  the  throne,  and  where  the 
enemies  of  this  Bible  and  this  Saviour  will  have  lost 
a  throne,  never  to  be  regained ;  is  it  to  that  blissful 
presence  that  you  are  bending  your  course  ?  or  to 
that  mournful  exile  ?  That  eternity  is  at  no  great 
distance  ;  you  stand  upon  its  brink  :  it  is  but  a  little 
moment  and  you  pass  into  it.  Time  is  too  short, 
life  too  precious,  to  disregard  the  counsels  of  this 
Bible,  to  trifle  with  this  eternity,  and  this  salvation. 
O  perverse,  O  senseless  world !  that  can  be  blinded 
thus,  and  thus  infatuate,  while  all  below  is  vanishing 
like  a  shadow,  and  there  is  yet  an  eternity  to  lose, 
or  an  eternity  to  gain  ! 

THE    END. 


PUBLICATIONS 


AMERICAN     TRACT     SOCIETY, 


D'AUBIGNE'S  HISTORY  OF  THE  REFOR- 
MATION. A  new  translation,  revised  by 
the  author,  in  four  volumes  ]'2mo,  with 
portraits.  Price  SI  75,  extra  cloth. 

BAXTER'S  SAINTS'  EVERLASTING  REST, 
ICnio,  in  large  ty|te  ;  also  18mo. 

BUNYAN'S  PILGRIM'S  PROGRESS,  12mo, 
in  large  type,  and  18mo.  Both  editions 
neatly  illustrated. 

JAY'S  MORNING  EXERCISE". 

MASON'S  SPIRITUAL  TREASURY,  for 
every  day  in  the  year.  Terse,  pithy, 
and  evangelical. 

FLAVEL'S  FOUNTAIN  OF  LIFE,  or  Re- 
demption provided. 

FLAVEL'S  METHOD  or  GRACE,  or  Re- 
demption applied  to  the  Souls  of  Men. 

BISHOP  HALL'S  SCRIPTURE  HISTORY,  or 
Contemplations  on  the  Historical  Passa- 
ges of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments. 

BISHOP  HOPKINS  ON  THE  TEN  COMMAND- 
MENTS. Two  standard  works  of  the 
times  of  Baxter. 

PRESIDENT  EDWARDS'  THOUGHTS  ON 
REVIVALS. 

VENN'S  COMPLETE  DUTY  OF  MAN. 

OWEN  ON  FORGIVENESS,  OR  PSALM 
cxxx. 

GREGORY'S  (OLINTHUS,  LL.D.)  EVI- 
DENCES OF  CHRISTIANITY. 

PALEY'S  NATURAL  THEOLOGY. 


DR.  SPRING'S  BIBLE  NOT  OF  MAN,  or  the 
Argument  for  Ike  Divine  Origin  of  the 
Scriptures  drawn  from  the  Scriptures 
themselves. 

NELSON'S  CAUSE  AND  CURE  op  INFIDEL 

ITY. 

MEMOIR  OF  MRS.  ISABELLA  GRAHAM. 
A  new  and  standard  edition. 

MEMOIR  OF  MRS.  SARAH  L.  HUSTI NO- 
TON  SMITH. 

SACRED  SONGS  FOR  FAMILY  AND  SOCIAL 
WORSHIP.  Hymns  and  Tunes — with  it 
separate  edition  in  patent  notes.  Also, 
the  Hymns  separately. 

DODDRIDGE'S  RISK  AND  PROGRESS  or 
RELIGION  IN  THE  SOUL. 

EDWARDS'  HISTORY  OF  REDEMPTION. 

VOLUME  ox  INFIDELITY,  comprising  five 
standard  treatises :  Soame  Jenyns  on 
the  Internal  Evidence  ;  Leslie's  Method 
with  Deists ;  Lyttelton's  Conversion  of 
Paul  ;  Watson's  Ueply  to  Gibbon  and 
Paine. 

PIKE'S  PERSUASIVES  TO  EARLY  PIETY. 

PAKE'S  GUIDE  TO  YOUNG  DISCIPLES. 

ANECDOTES  FOR  THE  FAMILY  AND  TUB 
SOCIAL  CIRCLE. 

UNIVERSALISM  NOT  OF  Goo. 

DIBBLE'S  THOUGHTS  ON  MISSIONS. 

THE  BIBLE  TRUE. 


ELEGANT  PRACTICAL  WORKS. 


WILBERFORCE'S  PRACTICAL  VIEW. 
HANNAH  MORE'S  PRACTICAL  PIETY. 
JAMES'  ANXIOUS  INQUIRER. 
JAY'S  CHRISTIAN  CONTEMPLATED. 
ELIJAH  THE  TISHBITE. 
NEVINS'  PRACTICAL  THOUGHTS. 
MKLVILL'S  BIBLE  THOUGHTS,  selected  by  . 
the  late  Kev.  Dr.  Milnor 


HARRIS'  MAMMON. 
GURNEY'S  LOVE  TO  GOD. 
FOSTER'S  APPEAL  TO  THE  Vor.vj. 
ABBOTT'S  YOUNG  CHRISTIAN. 
ABBOTT'S  MOTHER  AT  HOME. 
ABBOTT'S  CHILD  AT  HOME. 
JAMES'  YOUNO  MAN  FROM  HUME. 


CHRISTIAN    MEMOIRS. 


REV.  CLAUDIUS  BUCHANAN,  LL.D.,  in- 
cluding his  Christian  Researches  in 
Asia. 

REV.  JOHN  NEWTON. 

REV.  HENRV  MARTYN. 

KEV.  DAVID  BRAINERD. 

REV.  EDWARD  PAYSON,  D.  D. 

HARRIET  L.  WINSLOW,  Missionary  in 
linlia. 

JAMES  BRAINERD  TAYLOR. 


HARLAN  PAGE. 

\ORMAND  SMITH. 

RICHARD  BAXTER. 

ARCHBISHOP  LEIHIITON. 

MATTHEW  HENRY. 

REV.   C.    F.    SCHWARTZ,   Mis^onan   tt 

India. 

REV  SAMUEL  PEARCE. 
REV.  SAMUEL  KILPIN. 
HANNAH  HOBBIE. 


OTHER  SPIRITUAL  WORKS. 


EnWARDS  ON  THE  AFFECTIONS. 

BAXTER'S  CALL  TO  THK  UNCONVERT- 
ED. 

ALLKINE'S  ALARM  TO  THE  UNCON- 
VERTKD. 

FLAVEL'S  TOUCHSTONE. 

FLAVEL  ON  KEEPING  THE  HEART. 

HELKFENSTEIN'S  SELF-DECEPTION. 

TIKE'S  RELIGION  AND  ETERNAL  LIFE. 


SHERMAN'S    GUIDE   TO   AM   ACQUAINT 

ANCE  WITH  GOD. 
BAXTER'S  DYING  THOUGHTS. 
MATTHEW  HENRY  ON  MEEKNESS. 
ANDREW  FULLER'S  BACKSLIDER. 
SCUDDER'S    REDEEMER'S    LAST    COM 

MAND. 

SCUDDER'S  APPEAL  TO  MOTHERS. 
BURDER'S  SERMONS  TO  THE  AQED. 


MISCELLANEOUS  WORKS. 


BOGUE'S  EVIDENCES  OF  CHRISTIANITY. 
KEITH'S  EVIDENCE  OF  PROPHECY. 
MORISON'S  COUNSELS  TO  YOUNG  MEN. 
THE  REFORMATION  IN  EUROPE. 
NEVINS'  THOUGHTS  ON  POPERY. 
SPIRIT  OF  POPERY,  [with  12  engravings.] 


THE  COLPORTEUR   AND   ROMAN  CATH- 
OLIC. 

MASON  ON  SELF-KNOWLEDGE. 
BEECHER  ON  INTEMPERANCE. 
RAISING  op  LAZARUS  FROM  THE  DEAD. 
HYMNS  FOR  SOCIAL  WORSHIP. 


POCKET  MANUALS. 


CLARKE'S  SCRIPTURE  PROMISES. 
THE  BOOK  OF  PSALMS. 
THE  BOOK  OF  PROVERBS. 
DAILY  SCRIPTURE  EXPOSITOR. 
GEMS  OF  SACRED  POETRY. 
BEAN  AND  VENN'S  ADVICE  TO  A  MAR- 
RIED COUPLK. 
REASONS  or  REPOSE. 
DAILY  FOOD  FOR  CHRISTIANS. 


HEAVENLY  MANNA 

CECIL  AND  FLAVKL'S  GIFT  FOR  MOURN- 
ERS. 

DAILY  TEXTS. 

DIARY,  [Daily  Texts  interleaved.  1 
CRUMBS  FROM  THE  MASTER'S  TABLE. 
MILK  FOR  BABES. 
DEW-DROPS. 


BOOKS   FOR  THE  YOUNG. 
MANY  OF  THEM  BEAUTIFULLY  ILLUSTRATED  WITH  ENGRAVINGS 


GALLAUDET'S  SCRIPTURE  BIOGRAPHY, 
7  vols.,  from  Adam  to  David. 

GALLAUDET'S  YOUTH'S  BOOK  OF  NATU- 
RAL THEOLOGY. 

CHILD'S  BOOK  ON  REPENTANCE. 

PEEP  OF  DAY. 

LINE  UPON  LINE. 

PRECEPT  UPON  PRECEPT. 

AMELIA,  THE  PASTOR'S  DAUGHTER. 

TREES,  FRUITS,  AND  FLOWERS  OF  THE 
BIBLE,  [9  cuU.j 

ELIZABETH  BALES.  By  John  Angell 
James. 

EMILY  MARIA. 

NEWTON'S  LETTERS  TO  AN  ADOPTED 
DAUGHTER. 

CHILD'S  BOOK  ON  THE  SABBATH. 

NATHAN  W.  DICKEKMAN. 

MARY  LOTHROP. 

JOHN  MOONEY  MEAD. 

HENRY  OBOOKIAH. 


CAROLINE  HYDE. 

GALLAUDET'S  LIFE  OF  JOSIAII. 

THE  DAIRYMAN'S  DAUGHTER,  etc. 

CHARLES  L.  WINSLOW. 

WITHERED  BRANCH  REVIVED. 

PEKT'S  SCRIPTURE  LESSONS. 

CHILD'S  BOOK  OF  BIBLE  STORIES. 

CHILDREN  OF  THE  BIBLE. 

AMOS  ARMFIELD,  or  the  Leather-covered 

Bible. 
THE  CHILD'S  HYMN-BOOK.     Selected  by 

Miss  Canlkins. 

SCRIPTURE  ANIMALS,  [16  cnts.J 
LETTERS    TO    LITTLE    CHILDREN,   [13 

cuts.] 

GREAT  TRUTHS  IN  SIMPLE  WORDS. 
CLEMENTINE  CUVIER. 
ROLLS  PLUMBE. 
PICTORIAL  TRACT  PRIMER. 
WATTS'  DIVINE  AND  MORAL  SONGS. 
With  numerous  similar  works. 


ALSO— 


IN  FRENCH — 12  volumes. 
IN  WELSH — Pilgrim's  Progress  and  Bai- 
ter's Saints'  Rest  and  Call. 


DR.  EDWARDS'  SABBATH  MANUAL,  Parts 

1,  2,  3,  and  4. 

DR.  EDWARDS'  TEMPERANCE  MANUAL. 
Is  GERMAN — 31  vols.  various  sizes. 

ALSO,  upwards  of  1,000  Tracts  and  Children's  Tracts,  separate,  bound,  or  in  packets, 
adapted  for  convenient  sale  by  merchants  and  trailers,  many  of  them  with  beautiful 
engravings— in  English,  German,  French,  Spanish,  Portuguese,  Italian,  Dutch,  Danish, 
Swedish,  and  WeWi. 

t^jF"  It  is  the  design  of  the  Society  to  issue  all  its  publications  in  good  type,  for  Vlie 
poor  as  well  as  the  rich  ;  and  to  sell  them,  as  nearly  as  may  be,  at  cost,  that  the  Society 
may  neither  sustain  loss  nor  make  a  prosit  by  all  its  sales. 


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